Heroes
by psyduck64
Summary: The world or Remnant has grown darker in the past year. After the White Fangs defeat one year ago, the Faunus have become even more violent, and the Grimm increasingly aggressive. Can team RWBY unite to stave off the darkness threatening to consume their world? Or will our heroes be overwhelmed and fall into darkness themselves?.
1. Chapter 1

HEROES

_**Chapter One**_

Graduation day is not shaping up to be what it should have been. Weiss stood alone amongst the graduands, Standing tall, proud to be accepting her certificate, her license to be a huntress. Ruby watched from the trees beyond the wall, the scope of her rifle trained solely on the snow white hair of her best friend. After having been expelled from Beacon at the end of last year as a result of the war with the White Fang, Ruby has lost her chance to be a huntress. After Ruby's expulsion, Yang left soon after. She blamed their new team member but to her friends, it was obvious there was a far deeper reason. The entire team had lost their motivation after the war and Ruby's departure, only Weiss stayed, out of respect for her family. Blake was an entirely different story. After the defeat of the White Fang, Blake decided that the Faunus community needed a figure to look up to, and the Human-Faunus relations were at all time low. She set out to become this symbol, to become hope for the future of her people. Now Weiss stands alone, the captain of one of the worst teams to ever stumble the halls of Beacon academy, and the only remaining member of the most legendary teams to ever have failed to graduate.

Ozpin calls team WHTE to the stage and Weiss leads her teammates to the crippled headmaster. The faint echoes of cheers were all that reached Ruby from her perch as Weiss accepted her credentials and shook Ozpin's hand. Tears flowed like rivers down Ruby's cheeks, blurring her vision through the scope. The image she had created for herself, since she was just a small child, she had wanted to be a hero, and now she was a failure. She had failed herself, she would never be a huntress, she had failed her team, her friends. But she was Ruby Rose, child prodigy, she just has to work harder, she can reunite her team, her life can be like one of the stories she read as a little girl. If it was possible for anyone it was possible for her. Yet the seed of doubt remained, a dark spot on the horizon of her dreams. Weiss was now speaking to her classmates, her face cold, with a strained apathy. Ruby did not need her rifle to see the tears that Weiss had so carefully hidden now slipping past her guard and falling to the floor in waves. Ruby could not console her now, as she had so often done during their school days. Ruby could do nothing but watch, as her best friend was escorted backstage by Glynda.

It was then that Ruby left. She had spent too long this close to the Academy. After what she had done in the war, after the mistakes she had made, she could no longer be this close to the Academy and feel comfortable. She knew Ozpin would forgive her if she would just talk to him, yet seeing him again would do nothing but confirm the weight of Ruby's actions. Because of her the most prominent figure in Remnant was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Because of her mistakes, her failures, the White Fang still breathes. The world needs heroes more than ever and Ruby has single handedly guaranteed Ozpin would not be one of them. Feeling depression begin to creep into her mind again, she steered herself towards the cafe where she and Weiss had agreed to meet after the ceremony.

Halfway through her third cup of tea, Weiss walks through the doors, her eyes a blistering red, in stark contrast against her pale skin and snow white hair. Weiss stands in the entrance for several minutes before finally spotting Ruby sitting in the back near the fire. She walks over and slumps down into the chair across from Ruby and raises an eyebrow.

"I thought you always wore red" Weiss said "All black doesn't suit you" Weiss tried to smile at her friend, but only managed a strained grimace. Something seemed off about Ruby, her aura had shifted since they had last met.

"Well, i don't to be recognized, especially while I'm in the city" Ruby sighed "I'm sure you've heard the things people have been saying about me"

"Of course I have, but i never expected you to care this much" Weiss looked curiously at Ruby's all black outfit. A rough wool shirt and tight black leggings, as well as a cloak and hood that seemed to shimmer and disappear into the darkness behind her. Gone were the skirts, the corsets, the flare that Ruby used to put into her clothing. All of her clothing was built to serve a purpose beyond fashion especially the cloak. Weiss furrowed her brow while examining the cloth from across the table.

"Ruby, that cloak, how did you manage to get your hands on something like that? those are expensive aren't they?"

"Their expensive if you buy one, I made mine" Ruby replied proudly.

"You made it? How? I've known people to train for years before they are even allowed to touch Reaper cloth. How did you manage to do it?"

"Well, this is an interesting story, but I'll tell you all of it later. The important part is that while I was looking into an rise in Grimm activity around the northern tip of Vacuo. I found an old warehouse in one of the ruined cities there, and there was a stash of this cloth, so I took it with me. After I finished the mission, i spent weeks studying my old red cloak to see how it was made, then I began working on sewing this one in the same way. It took me a while because I would get really nervous about messing up, but after about a month I finished it and wore it on my next mission." Ruby smiled and took it off to show to Weiss. "See look, it's lighter than wool, and smoother than silk, although it doesn't keep you near as warm. I only put it on when I really don't want to be found, like right now, or when I get a commision."

"This is incredible, Ruby" Weiss ran her hands through the fabric "This is the kind of cloak you're given when you receive the highest honor for service to Remnant. Even Ozpin doesn't have one. This cloak, it lets you fade away from sight, it even conceals your aura." Weiss handed the cloak back "Although if anyone were to have gotten one, other than me of course, you're the perfect choice"

Ruby's smile faded and she turned away from Weiss for a moment. "You're wrong Weiss, there are hundreds of people more deserving than me to own something like this. Ozpin, Pyrrha, Jaune, Blake, you, I should be the last person to receive a gift like this"

"Ozpin doesn't need it anymore, and all those other people can't lead us like you can, Ruby" Weiss reached across the table and turned Ruby's head to look into her own.

Ruby jerked her head out of Weiss' grip "Ozpin doesn't need this anymore because of what I've done to him, and I can't be a leader, not anymore" Ruby stood "Not since what I did to you and Blake and Yang. All of those things that you suffered, all of your pain was because of me, my mistakes"

Weiss pushed Ruby back down into the chair. "You need to let that go Ruby. We don't blame you, we never have and we never will. The only person who is mad at you, is you"

Ruby sat for a couple minutes, silent, sullen. She could gather the force to speak again. Weiss was right, the only one who blamed her for her mistakes was herself, however she could not bring herself to face what she had done, nor forgive herself for her shortcomings. Ruby rose from the table once again.

"I should be going. I don't want Ozpin to find me in the city" Ruby said, with as much force as she could muster.

"He doesn't blame you, you know" Weiss stood as well. "If anything he's been waiting for a chance to talk to you"

"It's my fault. The way he is now, everything is all my fault, my incompetence" Ruby began to shake. "I let Torchwick live. I lost to Cinder, and because of that the White Fang still lives"

People began to take notice of Ruby's yelling "I've been running all over Remnant for the past year, researching as much as i can about the White Fang leaders that are still out there. Trying to stop the spread of the Grimm they had began to breed, but I can do nothing"

"Ruby, you need to calm down people are going to get nervous, if you really don't want to talk to Ozpin then yelling about the White Fang in a coffee shop is not the way to do things" Weiss rose and grabbed Ruby's arm. "Now come with me, were going to go meet some people and maybe they can help you" Weiss dragged Ruby from the cafe, throwing some money on the table as she left.

Weiss took Ruby to the old ruins of Mountain Glenn. She led Ruby into one of the decrepit buildings along the outskirts, similar to the one they had stayed in, their first mission, with Oobleck. As the two climbed higher into the building they began to hear voices, laughter, the familiarity was soothing to Ruby.

"There you guys are! Man took you long enough we've been waiting for hours!" A blond mans head poked out from around the corner of the stairwell.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked "Is that you?"

"Of course its me! C'mon it's only been a year, have i changed that much?"

Jaune had been almost unrecognisable after the war ended. While evacuating a comune in the woods, on the outskirts of Vale, he had been the victim of a dust explosion, planned by Torchwick to take out team JNPR. Because of Pyrrha's impact on the war, and her collaboration with Ozpin, JNPR became a prime target for White Fang to eliminate. Ruby heard on her travels that Pyrrha earned her huntress licence early because of this, as well as the extent of Jaune's injuries. Scars stripped his face and bare arms, and his left eye had been replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. He was missing two fingers on his left hand, and his nose had been pushed to the right by about half an inch. Ruby could not have prepared herself for the shock of seeing Jaune, however despite all the changes, he was still the friend that Ruby had missed so dearly. His shaggy mop of yellow hair remained, as well as his seemingly endless optimism. Jaune had become all that Ruby had aspired to be, a hunter, a hero, a leader worthy of his astounding teammates.

"Of course its Jaune, you dolt" Weiss smiled, a true smile, and Ruby, for the first time since she had left Beacon, smiled with her. "I told him to meet us here, since he wanted to come with us"

"Come with us...?" Ruby's smile began to fade. "There is no us, I was going to leave tomorrow, I haven't found Torchwick, or Cinder, or the rest of the White Fang, plus there's all those Grimm and.."

"Ruby, we've all graduated now, or at least most of us, we've decided to come with you" Weiss replied placing her hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"What do you mean most of us" Ruby shrugged off Weiss' hand. "I can't believe you would bring up my expulsion Weiss' that's cold, even for you " The two stood apart, Ruby glaring, Weiss looking over to Jaune.

"ummmm, Ruby, she was talking about me" Jaune laughed nervously. " if anyone should be mad its me not you" Jaune smiled "although I'm not really mad, I didn't graduate, thats all, I won't be able to be a hunter. I guess I'm just like you Ruby, fate decided my path, and I can't change that"

Ruby was stunned. This smiling, blond man, the hero of war, saviour of the people, had not managed to become a hunter? "But how? You're a hero, you saved thousands of lives, how are you not a hunter?"

"Well, when i was hurt, a lot of the damage was dealt internally. My aura blocked most of the physical damage, but it was a huge explosion, there was no way I could block it all, and I absolutely couldn't save myself from the sheer force of the impact." Jaune sighed, but his smile remained "I tore all the ligaments in my left arm, and my right wrist and my back were broken, and the cartilage in my knees and my nose melted. After my recovery, my body was too weak to continue training at Beacon, much too weak to fight the Grimm, so I stayed at Beacon as a mentor to the newer students. Pyrrha has been trying to heal me, but well, you know, its not going very well"

Ruby remained silent for a time while she processed what Jaune had just said. He did not seem to be weak, his spirit remained strong. The very thing that had so crushed her, driven her to depression, has left almost no impact on Jaune at all. It nearly broke her. Jaune was stronger than she could have ever imagined.

"But, if you can't fight, how are expecting to come with Weiss and I?" The words that left Ruby's mouth were very unlike her. At that point she realized there had been a shift in her personality. She would never had said anything like that to anyone three years ago, and yet here she was, rejecting a friends offer for help.

Jaune however did not seem to mind Ruby's bitter response. "Don't worry, I've found myself a magnificent bodyguard" Almost as in response, Pyrrha stepped out into the room.

"Hello Ruby, its been too long" Pyrrha smiled warmly "A full year, by my estimate"

Ruby burst into a smile when she set eyes on Pyrrha. This day had been a roller coaster of emotions, from crying with Weiss, to joy with Jaune, then jealousy, regret, and joy once again upon seeing Pyrrha, Ruby was feeling quite worn out. There was still so much to learn about her friends, so much had changed in the year she had been gone, and there were still the rumors about Weiss' condition that Ruby just did not have the heart to bring up in front of Jaune and Pyrrha.

"There's our Ruby" Jaune said "Ever since you got here there had been something off about you, you just didn't have the same energy you used to" Jaune led the group into an adjacent room, furnished with camping mats on the floor, and fire in the middle of the room. "Anyways I'm glad we've all had a chance to catch up but we really need to talk about our plans"

Jaune had definitely changed. Whether it was a result of the war, or just growing up, Jaune seemed to have aged ten years in the time Ruby had spent wandering. He seemed more mature now, certainly more in control, and certainly more of a leader than Ruby ever was.

"First of all, we need to decide on a captain. We are a team, just like we were back in school, so it would be fitting to have a captain, just like we errr… did in school" Jaune gave Ruby an apologetic glance at Ruby before continuing. "Since I brought this up I guess I'd like to nominate Ruby to be captain". Weiss and Pyrrha nodded in approval.

"Haha you guys are kidding right" Ruby back began to bead with a cold sweat. This was beyond nervousness, this was fear. Her friends have put their faith in her, even after all she had done. This time there could not be failure, failure would cost them much more than an escaped convict.

"No, we are serious Ruby, we discussed this in school before graduation. Out of all of us you have far more experience in Remnant, outside of Beacon, outside of Vale" Pyrrha answered so calmly, Ruby almost began to feel at ease, but the memories came rushing back, Ozpin bleeding, helpless, protected by Glynda, the faces of Torchwick and Cinder seemed to hover in the darkness around her. "I can't do it. Jaune should be the captain, or Pyrrha, at least Pyrrha is a huntress"

"Haha, Jaune laughed, trying to bring the atmosphere up from where Ruby had left it. "I far too weak to be a captain, i can barely hold my sword anymore, and Pyrrha will be too distracted trying to keep me alive to worry about you and Weiss." Jaune laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder "Before you left, Weiss told me you had lost confidence in yourself. I believe in you Ruby, we all do" He smiled "You were always a better leader than I was anyways, I never even noticed how Pyrrha felt about me for almost a year, and even then she pretty much had to write it down for me" Jaune laughed. "You might have been a little clumsy at times sure, but you were always looking out for your teammates, and always were there for them if they needed you"

"But…." Ruby seemed lost "My entire team almost DIED and it was all my fault." Tears began to fall from Ruby's eyes, the whites of her eyes now almost matching the red cloak she used to wear."I left my team stranded, I went after Torchwick and Cinder alone, all because I wanted to be the hero, the one in the stories who fights the evil and wins, no matter the odds." She turned away from Jaune "I turned my back on my team. I don't deserve your faith"

Ruby turned away from them to face the darkness. No one seemed to be able to understand what she was feeling. She could not bear to fail her friends again, to be responsible for their lives and put them at risk. She was crippled, broken by her fear, her uncertainty. Jaune could not understand, as he spent more time at Beacon his confidence grew larger and larger, he never doubted himself, and in return his team would follow whatever decision he made. Ruby could not do that, not anymore. She may have been the one to cripple Ozpin, but the recoil was far more than she could handle.

"Ruby talk to us" Pyrrha extended a hand towards Ruby, who turned further away. "We could tell that the war had taken its toll on you, but we hopped your time alone would have allowed you to sort yourself out" Pyrrha smiled "We're here for you, all of us, so please, let us in"

"Pyrrha, I know." Ruby slowly turned back towards the group. "Believe me, I know, and I'm sorry, but I am not the person I was a year ago. There is a piece of me that was lost in the war, and i don't think that I will ever find it again" Ruby smiled sadly and wiped the wetness from her face. "I'm afraid, I've been afraid for so long now i can't even remember how it felt before the war. I want more than anything to be with you guys, but I can't lead you, I can't trust myself to lead you"

"Ruby, you dolt" Weiss stood up and stalked towards Ruby. "Wipe those damn tears from your eyes and listen to me" Ruby shrank backwards "We are not offering. You are our leader, we have this decided already. And don't for a second it is YOUR choice whether or not we place our trust in you. We already have placed our trust in you, whether you like it or not so deal with it." Weiss relaxed and motioned towards Jaune and Pyrrha "We all trust you, despite what happened in the war, despite the rumors going around of how you let Torchwick and Cinder escape on purpose. Despite all that, we have decided that you are clearly the best person to be in charge. Just the fact alone that you're so beaten by your shortcomings is proof that you are perfect to be a captain. You recognize your mistakes, and will stop at nothing to ensure that they never happen again. We've all placed our trust in you already, all thats left is for you to trust yourself."

After a couple of moments of stunned silence, Ruby began to laugh softly, a soft giggle, growing into a full bodied hysteria. "Weiss, do you remember when we first met?"

Weiss blushed slightly and sat down "Uhhhh, yes..."

"Do you remember what you did when i was appointed captain of our team? You tried so hard to get Ozpin to make you captain. You were so certain that i could not handle the task, but he wouldn't make the swap, no matter how much you begged him"

Fire sprang up into Weiss' eyes "I did not BEG, Ruby"

Ruby waved of the correction "Anyways, what happened over the past three years that so completely reversed us, now I'm the one trying to undermine my leadership and you're trying to get me to believe in myself"

"Do you really not know what happened Ruby?" Weiss raised an eyebrow "You swayed me. After all that time living together, going on missions together, you couldn't hide everything from me. I saw the work you would put into being the best you could possibly be. You may have lost a piece of yourself in the war, but because its you, Ruby, I have no doubt in my mind you will be able to bounce back, you just need a reason."

"Yeah Ruby, we are making you our captain, because you are always the first to help a friend in need, the first into a fight and you are always conscious of how the rest of your team is doing. Sure you made that one mistake, but you are stronger now, and so are we, well maybe not me, but Pyrrha makes up for that" Jaune laughs and smiles at Ruby. "Either way, we have spent too long on this anyways, we need to get our sleep, captain" Jaune walks over to a set of golden mats beside the fire. "C'mon Pyrrha, lets get to sleep"

"Alright, alright Jaune, I'm coming" Pyrrha walks over and climbs into the pile of mats beside Jaune. Ruby glances over at Weiss and raises an eyebrow. Weiss sighs and rolls her eyes.

"Alright Weiss, lets get to sleep baby" Ruby winks at Weiss, who promptly smacks Ruby across the face before laying out her own blankets. Ruby smiles while she sets out her own mats, and lies awake for a long time, feeling the sting of Weiss' hand across her face. Once she was sure Jaune and Pyrrha had fallen asleep, Ruby turned back towards Weiss.

"Weiss are you still awake?" A mumbled groan answered in an affirmative. "I didn't want to bring this up in front of the others, but I heard a bunch of rumors about you, and I just wanted to let you tell me the facts before I make any assumptions."

"What rumors did you hear?"

"Well in almost every town i came to in the last six months have all been saying the same thing"

"Get to the point Ruby, what did you hear"

"Well, that you had done something awful, that you had injected dust into your blood. Everyone was calling you a freak of nature, saying that you were no longer human"

"Well I guess they would be correct then" Weiss was silent for several minutes before continuing. "Seven months ago, while mining into a new quarry, my fathers company found a new type of dust. It was a type of living dust, it could create and destroy dust at will. After taking samples back to the labs, we found this particular type of dust, did not have a consciousness so to speak, it still had some type of power which we have never seen before. It could create a seemingly endless supply of dust. My father took the few samples and hid them away, if word got out that this type of dust could self replicate, it could cause serious damage, to both the company and the rest of the world." Weiss paused for a moment "So my father continued to research this new dust in secret. I was one of the few he allowed access to the research, so i helped in whatever small way i could. We found out that this dust, it created dust based off electrical impulses in the atmosphere, similar to the way the brain controls a muscle."

"Weiss, don't tell me, you didn't did you? Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine, i think. When the injected the dust onto my body, the doctors used a needle to put a tiny amount into the base of my brain, and used the rest to lace most of my muscles with trace amounts. As a result, I am longer one hundred percent human I suppose, however, even if the dust in my body cause my DNA to change, my mind is still in control of every function of the dust. It's not so much a symbiosis as much as it simply is me talking advantage of this new ability given to me. I am lucky that I was born a Schnee, otherwise this new dust type would have just sat in a lab and been experimented on for years on end. I cost me my name but I believe that this advancement is necessary, now more than ever."

Ruby shook her head "You mean, not only did you implant dust into your body, but you stole the dust sample from your father? I never thought you were and your dad really disliked each other, why did you disobey him like this? You could have died, nothing like this has ever been done before"

"Well, i still love my father, and I'm sure he still loves me, we are a family, but he could not allow me access to the company after what I had done. He could have had me arrested, executed, however the best solution, that would have cause the both of us the least pain was my, excommunication, so to speak. I love him dearly, and I love my sister, but I do not think that they are active enough in trying to protect this world. The world is growing darker, and the Schnee Dust Company wants to help keep our people safe, however they would rather offer others the tools to defend themselves, rather than protect the people themselves. I believe that as our world grows darker, people need to be active in it's defense, so I gave myself the power to stand on the frontlines of our defense. The world needs my strength Ruby. Just as I need yours. I have this power within my body now, however I do not know what to do with it. The Grimm stand sentry on every border of our world, I do not know where to make my impact, which is why I need you. I need you to guide me Ruby, the world needs a hero Ruby, and no matter how much you deny yourself, I believe you are the one to lead us into a new age. You are the hero we need to lead us all, not just us in this room, but all those with the power to bring light into this world, we need someone to unite under, and I believe that person to be you."

"We'll I guess all I do is hope you're right and try my best" Ruby rolls back over into her blankets. The darkness around her kept at bay by the dancing flames of the fire. Yet there seemed to be a pressure closing in around her. Suffocating her, there seemed to be an unbelievable pressure coming from out in the black. Perhaps Ruby had always been aware of the changes taking place across Remnant, Grimm becoming more active, and different types of Grimm were being discovered close to daily. Even the older Grimm, those who have been patiently waiting for their chance to strike back at the humans have become more aggressive. The world was changing, the era of peace ushered in by Great War was coming to an end. Remnant needs defenders, men and women to stand and fight for their lives, and, of course, a captain, a hero to usher in the new age.

* * *

><p>Yang Xiao-Long stepped off the swaying deck of a merchant ship. She had meant to arrive the day before, to see Weiss graduate, however she had run into trouble with pirates while sailing back from the eastern lands. She stepped back onto dry land for the first time in weeks her violet peering into the darkness, watching, waiting.<p>

"You're late you know, kind of rude to leave me waiting like this"

Yang laughed "Oh shut up Sun, like you've ever been a stickler for punctuality." Yang reached into the darkness as she walked past an alley way and yanked out the monkey Faunus by the ear.

"Hey! how did you know I was there? I was being as quiet as possible, I projected my voice, I even concealed my aura…" Sun's look of confusion made Yang smile.

"The dark can't keep anything secret from me, not anymore. I trained with the shamans south of Mistral, I meditated with the monks in the mountain temples, I've studied with the scholars in their golden halls, I've become strong enough to set foot in Vale and face Ruby, of course I can see your scrawny ass hiding in an alley." Yang smiled at Sun, and for a split second her hair turned to flame, and her eyes flashed red.

"Those things don't sound very Yang-like you know" Sun looked a little disappointed in the account of Yang's activities.

Yang smiled wider "Well.. I drank a hell of a lot too"

Sun returned her smile "That sounds more like it, now c'mon, Ruby and Weiss left for Glenn hours ago, we have to hurry if we want any chance of finding them tomorrow."

"All right boss, lead the way"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

The sun rose cold and bleak over the decrepit buildings surrounding Ruby's party. As the shadows were slowly pushed back inch by inch, Ruby rose from her slumber equally as lethargic. Pyrrha was already awake and heating water over a rejuvenated fire, Jaune off in the back unpacking some food he had taken from the city before he'd departed. Weiss was nowhere to be found. Ruby carefully folded her Reaper cloak and placed it in her bag, then pulled out a thick black wool cloak which she promptly draped across her shoulders. The more time that passed since the war, the colder the days became. It was summer now, and yet the day felt like late autumn. Only after Pyrrha had offered a Ruby a cup of coffee did Ruby truly begin to take in her surroundings.

By the time she and Weiss had arrived in Glenn, it had been far too dark to see much of where she was. Now that day had broken and light poured in through the broken walls surrounding her, Ruby could see many things previously concealed in the safety of the night. Claw marks streaked the walls, territorial markings by the Grimm that populate the ruined city. A broken desk stood off in the corner of the room, it's legs broken and bent and it's drawers missing. A staircase ran to another floor to the left of Ruby's bed, the doorway she and Weiss had entered last night stood across the room to her right. There were three holes in the wall directly across from her which she could fit through, and one on the wall to her left. If Ruby had been alone in the night, she would not have stayed in this room, the Grimm would patrol in the night and have found her sleeping. Even if Ruby had realized the presence of the Grimm approaching, her only escape would have been to go up or jump out, and neither would have allowed her to depart without alerting the Grimm to her presence. She wondered who had made the choice of staying in a place like this.

"Pyrrha, where's W.."

"Upstairs, training with the new Myrtenaster, you can go watch if you like, I know how much you like weapons" Pyrrha smiled at Ruby, however her eyes did not match the tone of her lips.

"So you know about the whole dust thing then" Ruby returned the smile but could not help but feel uneasy about the look Pyrrha was giving Ruby. It was like she was afraid of something could not allow herself to speak out. Ruby had a distinct feeling what she was afraid of was Weiss, whose soft footfalls she could now hear tapping the ceiling above her. Clearly Weiss had sacrificed more than her name for the power she now possessed, even her friends felt uncomfortable in the presence of Weiss' unnatural existence.

"Yes, the dust" Pyrrha turned away and began fussing about the fire. "If truth be told, i think that this is a good thing, Weiss' will need this power if things keep on the same path" Pyrrha turned back to Ruby, the fear in her eyes replaced with sadness "I just feel that what she's done to herself, what she's become, its not natural for humans to exist as she does. I'm afraid there will be consequences to her action that none of us can anticipate. I don't want to lose her Ruby, she is one of humanities greatest allies, and one of my most important friends" Pyrrha began to grab some food from her bag and prepare it to be cooked over the fire. "She'll be training for a little longer, you can go watch if you like, I'll have breakfast ready in fifteen minutes"

Ruby nodded, and left Pyrrha to her own tasks. She could feel Pyrrha's concerned eyes on her back as she made her way to the stairway. Ruby began to feel nervous, uncertain of what she will find on the floor above. Will it be Weiss, or something new entirely, something unnatural, inhuman, terrifying.

When Ruby entered the room where Weiss was training the first thing she noticed was the smell. It was the same smell that came when she fired her own Crescent Rose, the same smell that came from a dust explosion. Like a mixture of smoke and sulfur gas. This observation was followed by the shocking appearance of Weiss herself. Brilliantly white dust crystals had sprouted from the base of her skull and extended down Weiss' bare back, like the ridges that grow down the spine of some species of Grimm. Blood flowed from the base of the crystals, as well as many wounds down her arms and across her chest, however Weiss did not deem to care. Weiss was stunning, as Ruby watched she could fully appreciate the fluidity of Weiss' movement, and the precision with which she moved. Her Myrtenaster looked like an extension of her arm, less like a weapon and more a organism itself. As Ruby watched, enraptured with Weiss', topless, deadly dance she realized that Myrtenaster was in fact molding itself as Weiss trained. The blade itself was fluid, going from short to long in moments and with explosive power. Ruby sat in the doorway and watched, the beauty of Weiss' movements made it hard for Ruby to breathe. She sat in stunned silence as Weiss slowly wound down her movements until she came to a complete stop.

"I must look a mess" Weiss turned and smiled at Ruby, who broke out of her trance to break into a grin and begin clapping furiously.

"That was INCREDIBLE Weiss, oh my god it's so cool the way you can control the shape of Myrtenaster and how you move it's just like OH MY GOD, like wow it's SO COOL" Ruby was amazed with her friends new power.

"Well I'm glad you like it, I've been training alone for the past couple months because everyone's afraid of me when i'm practicing" Weiss sighed "Even Pyrrha is afraid of me, maybe it's just the way she was raised, but she can't accept what I've done. She tries her best, but she is afraid of me, afraid of what might become of me." Weiss grabbed a cloth and began to wipe down her chest "Jaune I understand, after what he's been through, i would never ask him to be around me when I'm training. When I use dust or generate dust, I produce a smell that is very similar to that of a dust explosion. I don't want him to feel uncomfortable or panic because of me." Weiss reaches back and feels one of the crystals sprouting from her spine. "Ruby can you do me a favor? just press that tie that cloth onto my back once I take these off. Ruby grabs the cloth Weiss indicated and gets into position behind her friend.

"Ok so i just tie it? When should I do it? There's all these crystals in the way"

"Not for long" Weiss extends her hand behind her and places it palm down across the back of her neck. In one quick movement she sliced her hand downwards, breaking off the dust crystals, causing blood to rush out of the wounds. Ruby stood shocked for a moment before she remembered her task and pressed the cloth againts the fresh wounds on Weiss' back.

After regaining her composure Ruby finally managed to ask "What just happened, what were those spikes? Are the rest of those wounds from the same thing?" After a couple seconds of silence Ruby asked "Why break them off? they looked cool"

The last statement brought a smile from Weiss "Because my brain uses electrical signals to control the dust in my body as well as my muscles, when I train my body I lose a slight amount of control over the creation of dust." Weiss tied the cloth across her chest and began to search for her clothes. "So I will create dust unintentionally in the areas that are receiving the most signals from my brain. Before it was all over my body, my legs, my arms, my chest, now it's just my back" Weiss found her shirt and leant tenderly against a wall "When I started training with my new body the pain was incredible, my joints would stop moving and my whole body would seize up after a time, but the more i worked the easier it became to prevent my body from creating dust without my conscious decision. That was three months ago that the other crystals stopped forming, but I can't seem to stop the formation on my back."

"So for three months you've had to break your back dust off every day? why not keep them? they look pretty cool" Ruby sat down next to Weiss "Do they grow the more you train or just grow out initially and then just stay there?"

"As far as I know they don't grow as long as they are there at the beginning of the training, but I can't keep them" Weiss slid down the wall to sit next to Ruby and shook her head "If I kept them, no matter how hard I tried, people like Pyrrha wouldn't be able to accept me anymore. Pyrrha is already nervous about my condition, now imagine if I walked down right now with foot long spikes coming out of my spine." She shook her head "Pyrrha would leave, and we need her strength, now more than ever." Weiss' face fell into a sullen frown "Plus the public would not accept me, you've heard what people call me already, I don't think I should separate myself from humanity more than I already have"

The two sat in silence for a minute, Ruby at a total loss at how to console her friend. No one she knew had forfeited their humanity to become stronger. As far as she knew, the only friend she had other than Weiss that wasn't Human of Faunus was

"PENNY!" Ruby shouted the name excitedly. "Weiss, you should talk to Penny, maybe she has some advice on what to do in your situation"

"Why would Penny be able to… Oh right, the robot thing" Weiss furrowed her brow in thought "The only problem is that she disappeared after Ironwoods betrayal during the war, no ones seen her since, I've heard that she helped Ironwood's escape and is in hiding with him, but rumors are not very reliable"

"Yep! Penny helped Ironwood escape, but she left him afterwards because he was too afraid to come out of hiding. Penny now lives in Mistral as a mechanic" Ruby smiled "I ran into her while I was hunting up in the east, she helped me upgrade Crescent Rose. There's a new type of metal that she found up in the north, It's lighter and stronger than the steel i used originally, so my scythe is now a quarter of the weight, and way easier to carry around"

"Wait hold on, we can talk about the scythe later, did you say Penny is in Mistral? Ozpin said he'd looked all over Remnant to find her and hadn't found a trace of her"

"Yep! she' in Mistral, or at least she was a month ago, she modified parts of her body so that no one could find her, but when she saw me she called me over and told me who she was. If she hadn't done that I don't think I would have noticed who she was, she really put some work into her new body."

"Alright, well then, when we next go to Mistral we can try and find her, but until then, let's not talk about the back crystal thing, ok?"

"Alright, now lets go eat, Pyrrha said something about breakfast when I came up here. She said fifteen minutes but I'm not sure how long it's been."

The two girls walked down the stairs into the other room, the smell alone had Ruby salivating. Jaune was sitting beside Pyrrha with a bowl of soup in front of him and Pyrrha was beside him, blush from laughter. Ruby ran immediately to the pot of soup heating over the fire and poured herself a bowl. While Ruby got her food ready, Pyrrha's laughter stopped suddenly and a feeling of tension took over the room. Weiss stood facing Pyrrha for a moment, before she turned off and sat in a corner, ignoring the food Pyrrha had made. Ruby finished pouring out her soup and after taking a look over at Pyrrha, who had since become engaged once again in whatever story Jaune was telling, proceeded to walk over to Weiss.

"After a workout like that you should eat something, Weiss, your body needs strengh"

"My body doesn't need food anymore. Dust is energy and since I'm now part dust, food and sleep are unnecessary." She looked longingly at the hot pot of food hanging above the fire. "Food makes me sick, I don't know if my body is still trying to control the dust, or whether the dust itself is reacting to food, but it's easier for me not to eat anymore"

"So you haven't eaten or slept in more than six months?" Ruby looked back over at Pyrrha, she could understand why Weiss made her so uneasy. There were so many things so necessary to a human that Weiss no longer needed. "Well that's ok i guess, I don't think I could do something like that, but it's the soul that counts, no matter how your body and habits change you'll always be Weiss, and thats good enough for me"

"I can see why Penny likes you so much, you must be the only person in the world who treats her like a person" Weiss smiled down at Ruby "Maybe today will be different, who knows" Weiss held out her hand for Ruby's bowl of soup and took a sip. She grimaced then returned the bowl back to Ruby. "I don't know if my body is still rejecting the food, or if I'm just unused to anything richer than water but I don't think I could eat a whole bowl without my stomach turning inside out" She took a moment to compose herself before continuing "Although, I don't think I feel as bad now as I used to, maybe I should eat more often, practice for when I need to go eat in public"

"You absolutely should, food is awesome" Ruby beamed up at Weiss "You should also go tell Pyrrha how good the food is, it might help her calm down about the whole 'not human' thing" Weiss nodded and stood up, after taking a few moments to compose herself, made her way over to Pyrrha and Jaune. Pyrrha immediately became uncomfortable in Weiss' presence, although she did her best to hide it. Jaune patted the mat beside him, asking Weiss to sit down with him, however Weiss did not notice.

"Your soup is fantastic" Weiss then stood in silence and waited. Jaune had already stopped talking and a silence descended over the four occupants. After what seemed to be an eternity, Pyrrha gave a slow nod, before excusing herself from the room and heading down into main floor of the building. Weiss nodded to Jaune and walked back to her spot beside Ruby. The silence continued, neither Ruby nor Jaune felt the right to break the silence Weiss had caused. So Ruby finished the rest of her food while Jaune cleaned up the camp. Pyrrha did not return for several minutes, Jaune had already finished packing by the time her footsteps on the stairs. The three braced themselves, ready for whatever shocking development had occurred to cause Pyrrha to become so frantic. Pyrrha burst through the door, her eyes immediately finding Ruby, who had since begun packing her belongings.

"Ruby, you must come see this"

* * *

><p>"That was Pyrrha right?"<p>

"Yep"

"So Ruby is in that building"

"Yep"

"And we're just sitting here"

"Yep"

"Why exactly are we just sitting here?"

"Yep" Yang opened her eyes and looked over at Sun "We're sitting here because Ruby is going to come to us."

"I thought you came here to apologize to her, the least you could do is go and meet her instead of making her meet you."

"I didn't come here to apologize to her, I came here to earn her forgiveness, there's a difference" Yang stood and pulled her scarf down. "Sometimes, all you need is an apology, but with Ruby I don't think that's all it will take. The idiot probably still blames herself even though it wasn't her fault."

"Still though, why make her come out and meet you?"

"I think I'll need a little bit of space for my apology you know. space to move"

"You don't… You're going to fight her? I thought you wanted to earn her forgiveness or whatever"

"Just shut up and watch, this is what we need to do, we're sisters after all" Yang smiled and walked forward into the open space between her camp and the building Ruby is in. She stretched slightly before arming Ember Celica. She stood and waited, motionless until the doorway that Pyrrha had just been spotted in began to show signs of movement.

"C'monnnnnnn Ruby! Hurry up! I wanna see my little sis, now get out here already!" Yang's voice pierced the silence of the ruined city. Ruby stepped tentatively out from the shadow of the doorway.

"Why are you here Yang? You disappear for a year, and not a word. I wandered Remnant in it's entirety, and yet not a single person had seen you." Ruby walked out into the clearing and stood across from Yang.

"Yes well, I wasn't technically in Remnant for most of the year" Yang shrugged. "I was in Mistral for a bit, but mostly I was training in the south and on the Dragon Islands."

"Dragon Islands? Why would you go there? There's nothing there but ruins and ashes"

Sun snuck up behind Yang "I thought you said there were scholars and monks and stuff"

"Shut up monkey boy, I was going to get there" Yang growled, "the Dragon Islands were cut off, but their people did not go extinct, they just hid. For decades, they did nothing, until Remnant decided that after the volcanoes erupted, that the people had long since been gone. Mistral closed their trade routes to the Islands and the rest of Remnant allowed themselves to forget." Yang closed her eyes and paused before continuing. "I first heard about the Islands while Weiss was forcing me to study, I knew that I would have to go there, it became almost an obbsession. Once you left Beacon, I knew that was the time. There was no point in staying once our team had broken up, so I decided why wait to be a huntress? I can go on an adventure right now and train in my own way and become strong. Stronger than I ever could while sitting at an academy."

"So you decided to leave and go sift through the ashes of some deserted Islands east of Mistral?

"They're not deserted, Ruby" Yang opened her eyes, the violet color had been replaced with a burning red, and her hair began to float, weightless, like flames dancing from her head. "We are the descendants of the Dragons. Ruby, just like our father was, and the Dragons are still alive. I went to the Islands expecting to find tombs and ashes, but instead found a civilization, thriving in the jungles of what was presumed to be the most uninhabitable on the planet. They taught me things about my semblance, and the power I possessed." Yang stepped towards Ruby "Before I could only access the power of my semblance when I was hit or angry, but now I can activate it preemptively, before a fight even happens. I spent the last year training hard for when I came back and met you again Ruby. I'm so much stronger than I was a year ago, all I ask from you is another chance to prove myself, to earn your trust" Yang's hair fell back down her back and her eyes faded back to violet.

"What do you mean you need to 'earn my trust'? I was the one who failed you, I should be the one apologizing, not you"

"No Ruby, you did what you needed to do, as a captain you took it upon yourself to do what needed to be done, it was our fault, my fault for not being able to keep up"

"Yang it was not your fault, I ignored you, I left you alone and ran away from my team, that is not what a captain does, a captain does not leave her team"

"No, you listen to me, we did not deserve you to lead us. We did not have the strength you have sis, we didn't even bother to try to keep up with you. We could all see what needed to be done, just like you had, but we had decided it was impossible before we had even tried. You were the only one out of the four of us, who even though it was nearly impossible, still tried." Yang took another step towards Ruby "We failed you that day, I'm sure Weiss feels the same way, even if she doesn't want to admit it, and because of our failure, you took the blame. I'm here because I need to show you how strong I am, I need to show you I won't make the same mistake again"

"So you want to fight? like we did at Beacon?"

"Not exactly, I don't plan on holding back this time, and I hope neither do you" Yang flashed a smile at her sister before rushing towards her at explosive speed. Yangs first punch Ruby sidestepped easily, although the speed with which Yang manages to change direction and fire of a second punch surprised her. She braced herself to be hit, but the impact never came.

"Get out of here, Weiss, this is between sisters." Yang growled

"I will not allow this. Not here, not now, we need some sort of safety if you want to fight. I am not going to stand by and watch you kill each other."

"Weiss, I said mo…"

"Weiss, it's ok." Ruby looked up into the icy eyes of her friend. Weiss looked into Ruby's eyes for a moment before nodding and backing off to where Jaune and Pyrrha stood watching.

"Now that that's out of the way, lets continue, I've been looking forward to this you know. I haven't had a good fight in over a year" Yang once again flung herself at Ruby, however Ruby was ready this time. In one fluid movement, she dodged Yang's attack and pulled out Crescent Rose. The scythes improved weight made readying the blade faster than the blink of an eye, before Yang had even recovered from her initial attack, Ruby was already leaping into the air, landing with her back to the sun, her scythe in one hand extended behind her back and the other placed in a guard across her jaw. Yang grit her teeth, Ruby moved incredibly quickly at the best of times, but with a lighter weapon, it almost resembled teleportation. Ruby's movements had improved dramatically, she moved with a precision she previously lacked, no longer was she reckless and hasty. As a fighter she had matured, however she was not confident in her fighting, she avoided situations where she would be on equal footing even if she already knew hew opponent's power. Ruby was a stronger fighter, Yang knew this, and Ruby certainly knew it, however she had chosen not to attack after Yang's engagement and instead placed the sun at her back, giving her the upper hand. Yang knew that if Ruby managed to gain confidence in herself once again, she would be a terror on the battlefield.

"Are you running away from me Ruby? You should have let Weiss stay and fight if you had already decided not to"

"We are fighting"

"That's a lie." Yang's eyes turned red once again "I am fighting you, however you are not fighting me. I want you to fight me Ruby. I need you to see my strength"

"Alright then, this time, I'll come at you with everything"

Yang smiled, then burst forwards once again, however this time she predicted Ruby's movement and placed her punch so her momentum throw her in the same direction Ruby. As her fist hit air, as she expected, she threw herself sideways in the direction Ruby had gone, although instead of Ruby she saw only Crescent Rose stuck in the ground. The moment Yang realized that Ruby was not where she'd expected her to be, Ruby kicked her hard in the back of her head, using Yang's momentum, as well as the kick to throw Yang at full speed towards the tip of the Scythe blade. Yang only had time to adjust her head so the blade only grazed her cheek, and her aura manage to block most of the damage, however the attack still managed to draw blood. Yet Yang had no time to compose herself, Ruby had already retrieved the scythe and was using the shaft to keep Yang off balance while aiming a sweep kick towards the back of Yang's legs. Yang stepped up and leapt off the shaft of Ruby's Rose, then launched into a counter attack, Ember Celica rang shot after shot, the momentum from Ruby's kick carrying her directly into the line of fire. Ruby dug the shaft of her scythe into the ground to stop her movement and fired a shot from her rifle to lift her backwards onto her feet. The two stood in a stalemate, circling their arena, watching each other for openings.

"You're fast" Yang commented

"Speed is relative" Ruby replied. "I do not feel fast, just as you don't feel strong, I am fast compared to you, and you are strong compared to me, It's all perspective."

"Wow, that's pretty deep for a nineteen year old"

"A lot has happened in this past year."

"You're telling me" Once again Yang rushed towards Ruby, although this time instead of trying to use speed, she launched a slower, more powerful offensive. If any single one of Yangs punches landed, Ruby would be unable to fight. However Ruby was not allowing any of Yangs attacks to come close to landing. By the time Yang had turned to where Ruby was, Ruby was already launching an attack from somewhere else. Using her Scythe as more than a weapon, with her speed, it felt like Yang was fighting two people at once, the coordination from Ruby and her weapon guaranteed at least one attack would land at any given time. If Yang was to beat Ruby, it would have to be in the air, where their speed did not matter. Yang slammed her fists into the ground, causing the ground beneath them to cave in. Underneath their feet stood the underground ruins that had once held been home to thousands, thousands of feet below them. Ruby lept into the air immediately trying to reach the edge of the pit Yang had created, once Yang saw where Ruby was going she launched herself towards her, using her gauntlets for and extra boost of speed. Ruby had no choice but to receive the attack, she lessened the impact by using her rifle to launch herself in the same direction as Yang, however the impact was similar to being hit by a train. Crescent Rose flashed out and hooked Yang by the waist and threw her to the edge of the hole she had created. Ruby landed on the opposite side and dropped to her knees.

"Nice one" Ruby gasped

"Haha, speed doesn't matter in the air." Yang grinned

"True, I wasn't expecting you to cave the ground in, although you haven't won yet"

"Oh come onnn Ruby, you can't even stand. How are you supposed to fight, am I fighting Snow White next or what."

"No, I don't need Weiss, I just need my Rose, look, here it comes"

Yang had not noticed Ruby's scythe had disappeared after Ruby had used it to throw her away. Now that she looked for it, she could see it dropping quickly, entering the hole Yang had created. As she watched it, it disappeared, and with blinding speed appeared beside her, stuck into the ground. Ruby was still kneeling across the gap.

"How… the scythe just, it just teleported? How?"

"Ruby grinned at her sister "You know, just because you can't see me move, doesn't mean I haven't" Ruby disappeared and reappeared beside Yang, on the other side than the scythe. "Remember not to trust your eyes too much, some things just really don't want to be seen" Ruby used her scythe to throw Yang back into the air, over the pit. Yang tried to use Ember Celica to control her movement slightly, however there was not enough power to do more than slow her movement. Ruby grabbed her scythe, folded the blade into the shaft, until the scythe resemble more of a javelin. Using a shot from her rifle, Ruby threw the javelin at Yang, who was falling helplessly into the pit. Yang caught the spear as it flew towards her, though Ruby was already behind her, using the shaft of her scythe to pin Yangs arms. The two hit the ground on the other side, Yang skidding across the ground on her back and Ruby standing on her stomach. Ruby spun the scythe across Yangs chest and pressed the scythe blade, which had since reappeared, across Yang's throat.

"Wooooo! I win!"Ruby kicked the scythe back into her hand and spun it around like a baton. "You're strong Yang, stronger than I could ever be, although I think speed holds an advantage over strength." Ruby smiled and offered a hand to help Yang up off the ground. Yang took Ruby's assistance and beamed at her after she had stood up.

"You've improved a lot this year, your speed, precision, its incredible." Yang embraced her younger sister "I'm sorry I was such a bad teammate before. I promise if you let me join you guys I won't fail again."

"What do you mean if? Of course you're coming with us, if we had Blake the entire team would be back together."

"Speaking of Blake, have you heard anything from her? All I know is that she left went of to be a symbol or something"

"Blake is currently leading the Faunus revolution." Ruby replied "With you here, maybe we can convince her to come help us but I don't know. When we last talked she seemed very serious about what she was doing, although I get the feeling this revolution isn't exactly what she had planned"

"Why? is something wrong with Blake?"

"No I don't think Blake has changed all that much, but I think she is taking the demands of the Faunus too seriously, she's becoming a figurehead for all the hatred the Faunus have towards the humans, and I think if she doesn't step up soon, things might get out of control, like the White Fang" Ruby's face fell "The last thing I want is to go to war with Blake because she can't control her followers. She set out to be a symbol, but I don't think she is a leader, she's not leading the Faunus towards peace with humans, but rather allowing their hatred to spiral out of control. If we don't step in soon, I think we might have another White Fang on our hands."

"Well she was never all that great with people" Yang slapped Ruby on the back and smiled "But with all of us here, I have no doubt we'll be able to convince her"

"I hope so" Ruby lead Yang back to where Jaune, Pyrrha and Weiss had been watching. Upon their arrival, Weiss turned and walked back into the building, mumbling something about packer her things. Ruby could tell that she was upset with the way the sisters had handled things.

"What's got her in a huff?" Yang asked

"She doesn't want us to fight, there's too much evil in the world for friends to attack each other" Pyrrha responded "Although I think a fight every now and then is healthy between friends"

"You guys are incredible" Jaune added excitedly "It was like, BAM, FwoooOooSH, Pow, WHAM, Yang you're so strong! and Ruby! I could hardly see you move, you would just appear somewhere else." Jaune took a moment to catch his breath "I wish I could fight, although I don't think I could ever get to be as good as you guys, even before the explosion"

"So you haven't got any better?" Yang inquired

"We'll i think I have gotten better, but I'm still miles away from where I was before. I can dressed by myself now, and only need Pyrrha to move really heavy stuff, I can hold my sword now, but I can't use it without dropping it" Jaune sighed "The doctor says that there's residual dust in my body, and it's restricting my muscle use. Hopefully it will go away in time, but it is taking way too long."

"Jaune is getting better" Pyrrha said firmly "I've been with him ever since the explosion, I can see the progress he's made, and he continues to improve"

"Well, I guess we can see what happens, there's no use in worrying about it, I will either get better or not, I'm still alive and that's all that matters right now"

Yang pounded her chest with her fist "Truth, brother" She then looked through the door Weiss had recently entered "So are you guy's leaving now? I got here just in time then" She smiled "So where are we going Ruby?"

"Well, ummm….. I'm not really sure, I've heard reports of some huge grimm in Mistral, plus I told Weiss I would take her to see Penny, so… I guess we're going to Mistral?"

"Sounds good to me, although, why does Weiss want to see Penny? I didn't know there were that close"

"Oh, well, ummm…." Ruby paused "Weiss has been having some… Issues, and I think Penny might be able to help"

"What's happening with Weiss? Plus Penny is a robot, i don't see how she can resolve Weiss' issues"

"Yang, just leave it alone" Pyrrha placed a hand Yang's shoulder. "If you're curious, you can ask Weiss directly, otherwise, don't ask at all" Yang nodded. Clearly what was going on was personal to Weiss and her friends didn't feel comfortable sharing without Weiss' permission.

"Soooooo, I heard something about Mistral" Sun Wukong crept up beside Yang "Uhhhhh, when are we leaving?"

"Now" Ruby smiled at Sun "It's good to see you again Sun, have you spoken to Blake recently?"

"Ummm, yes and no" Sun rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly

"What's that supposed to mean, monkey boy" Yang slapped his shoulder. Hard. "Give us a straight answer"

Sun rubbed his shoulder "Uh, well I was at the Faunus camp, and tried to get in to see Blake, but apparently she isn't talking to people anymore"

"How do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, the Faunus have made her their Queen, and what she told me is that that means she can't interact with the commons as much anymore"

"Hold on a second? Blake is a Queen? Awwww that's so cooooool" Ruby did a quick pirouette in place "What do Queens do anyway?"

"More importantly you just said you didn't speak to her and now you say she told you this? I don't get it" Jaune commented.

"Well I didn't speak to her, she sent me a message when I left. She needs our help. She's practically a hostage now, the Faunus won't let her go anywhere or do anything" Sun sighed "Blake is always the first person to join the fight, or lead the search or whatever, and now she's sitting behind a veil, like some kind of child that needs to be protected. She hates it, it goes against everything she believes, but if she steps down now, all the Faunus will riot." Sun slumped down onto the ground "I love her so much and haven't seen her in six months, I can't even speak to her anymore." He flung himself onto his back "This suuuuuuuucks"

The rest of the group hovered uncomfortably around Sun, until Yang kicked him in the ribs. "Get up already, I can hear Weiss coming down the stairs." Ruby pricked her ears and listened for Weiss' footsteps, however it took her several seconds before she heard even the slightest scuffle of foot on stone. Clearly Yang had not simply trained her combat in her time away, her senses had been fine tuned to pick up even the slightest changes.

Weiss came through the doorway carrying two bags, one of which she threw to Ruby. "I took the liberty of finishing your packing as well, Ruby"

Ruby blushed as she checked to make sure all her belongings had been packed "Thank youuuuuuuu" Ruby flashed her puppy dog eyes at Weiss, who let out a 'Humph' and walked off.

"How are we getting to Mistral anyways? We can't borrow an airship can we? It'll take weeks if we don't." Yang asked.

"We'll have to walk across to the eastern seaboard and take a ship from there" Weiss stated, firmly, Ruby nodded in agreement.

"I don't want people to know about us right now, so we have to be careful. If the White Fang find out that we're trying to find them, they might do something really radical at kill a lot of people. We have to be as inconspicuous as possible. So that means, no airships *cough* Yang, as little outside help as possible, if we can do it ourselves then we will."

"What about when we come to a city or town?"

"We go in groups, Jaune and Pyrrha will go together and Weiss, Yang and I will go together, so we can be as inconspicuous as possible. Plus I have my Reaper cloak so nobody will really see me anyways"

Sun sat bolt upright, almost smashing his head into Yang's knee. "Hold up, you have a Reaper cloak? Where the hell did you get one of those? Aren't those expensive?" He stood up "Where is it? Can I see it? I always wanted one, can I see it? Can I? Pleaseeeeee?"

Ruby giggled and pulled the cloak from her bag, handing it to Sun. She then turned to the rest of the group "Before you ask, since I only told Weiss that I had this, I'll tell you, no I did not steal it, and no it was not given to me. Long story short I found a stash of Reaper cloth in a warehouse in Vacuo and sewed it myself. That's all I'm saying, now we need to decide how were getting to the coast. We could go under the mountains, which would be fastest but the most dangerous, or we can go over the mountains which would take longer but be far safer." Ruby looked across the faces of her friends. "I say we go over, It will take us a couple of extra days, and Jaune might have some trouble, but the Grimm on the mountain are far easier to deal with than the one's that are in the caves."

"Alright deal, let's go" Yang starts to walk away, then stops when she realizes no one is following her "Hey, are we leaving or not?"

"Yang, east is that way" Weiss points at a right angle from the direction Yang had gone.

"I knew that, I was just gonna get out of the ruins and then turn and go that way" Yang walks of, now in the correct direction. The rest of the part ready's their bags, Sun hands Ruby her cloak and she stuffs in back in her sack. Ruby nods to each member in turn, in a silent agreement. They will survive this journey, no matter how dangerous, they will survive.

* * *

><p>Blake had not seen sunlight in two weeks. Under normal circumstance, this would not have bothered her, however she was not in control anymore. Her so called 'subjects' did not want her to be put in danger, so she was forced to keep to a closed room the majority of the time. The only excitement in the past three months had been Sun's visit, yet even then she was not even allowed to see him. She had managed to convince one of her guards to bring him a note, which had to be proofread. Over the course of the past month, Grimm attacks had become more and more frequent, attracted to the hate of the Faunus towards the humans. Blake did not like how the Grimm were reacting to their encampment, she would prefer to move the Faunus group into one of the kingdoms, however this could potentially spark conflict in between the two races. Above all else, Blake's goal was to prevent the emergence of the White Fang, which had been not been seen for almost a year now. Now, Blake was concerned more with not creating another White Fang, but creating something apart from the White Fang, something new, terrifying. If the hatred of the Faunus festered any longer, there was a possibility of a violent revolution. All because she had wanted to help her people see the light, she had simply turned them off on a darker path. The White Fang had manipulated the Faunus into serving under Torchwick and Cinder, but now the Faunus have decided themselves to despise humans, giving them a conviction they previously lacked. This was the most terrifying aspect of the current state of the Faunus, with any slight provocation from humans, they might completely erupt. If Blake cannot control the Faunus, then there will be war, and soon.<p>

Blake opened her eyes, observing once again her cell. A desk off on the right wall stood littered in crumpled sheets of paper, letters to her friends she had never been given permission to send. On the desk was a lamp, the only source of light in the room, casting harsh shadows across the rest of the room. On the left stood a bookshelf, holding four books in total. All of the books Blake had brought with her had been burned by the Faunus because they had been written by humans, they said since the humans refuse to publish Faunus works, then the Faunus should not read human works. Blake could not voice her disgust at that notion, her belief was that all life is equal, the actions of the past are not a standard for the future. If the world is going to change, it will not be born anew in the ashes of repeated mistakes, but rather the advancement of new ideologies. Yet, for all her ideals, she was now just a puppet, a figurehead for the, so called "crucible" of the Faunus. She could do nothing but wait, wait and hope that somehow Ruby could come to her, find her and bring her back into the world. Ruby may be the only human who could pacify the Faunus, however if she is seen with Weiss, then the storm may break, and rain down it's savage wrath upon Remnant. All she can do now is wait, Blake closes her eyes once again, there was nothing for her to see now. The harsh light from the lamp turned the inside of her eyelids a faint red. She smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

Ozpin reclined at his desk and poured himself another cup of coffee. The gears that surrounded him gave off a pleasant whirring as they spun, the atmosphere of this office had never failed to put the headmaster at ease. It had been a long year at Beacon, stress and tensions were heightened from the recent outbursts of the Faunus. Blake seemed to be struggling for control over her people, yet there was nothing Ozpin could do. His injury in the war caused him to be absent of a large amount of the goings on in Remnant. Ruby Rose, if anyone was to blame for his current state, it would be her, yet Ozpin felt no resentment, no anger towards her. Rather, when he thought of the young girl, woman, all that he could feel was an overwhelming pity. Ruby was not the type to take failure easily, she believed herself a hero, to cause damage to her allies as she had done, it would have destroyed her. Perhaps he had made a mistake in her expulsion, he could have made an exception for her, bent the rules just slightly. Although it may have cost him his position as headmaster, Ruby may have been better off if she had the chance to stay with her team. Ozpin massaged his thigh with the heel of his hand, trying to loosen up the muscle. It was a bad habit of his, all it did was cause pain, there was no way he would get his leg to be able to move again.

Before the war, Ruby had worked the hardest out of team RWBY to perfect her fighting. during the lead up to the final battle, she had created a new technique, taking advantage of her strong aura. She called them Aura Bullets. She would load a cartridge of blank bullets into Crescent Rose and as she would fire the round, she would fill the round with a shot of aura. It was a technique she had perfected with the sole intention of killing humans. The way we had been fighting, it was designed to fight the Grimm, the use of dust and the way the weapons were designed made it very difficult to damage other beings who possessed aura. Ruby's Aura Bullets were created to negate the effects of her opponents aura, effectively creating a hole in their defense that would last long enough for the bullet to slip through. This technique had almost single handedly won the war. Once the White Fang realized what Ruby had done, most had decided to flee, only those who were devoted to that Cinder witch stayed and fought, although at that point the battle had already been won. Torchwick, Cinder and that Mercury boy escaped, Emerald surrendered to Ruby and was brought back to Vale. Although, no matter the effect on the war, Ruby's technique may also be the main reason that tension between humans and Faunus rose to such a boiling point. She basically murdered her the Faunus, Ozpin could not imagine what must have happened between Ruby and Blake afterwards, or even if the rest of team RWBY knew about the technique Ruby had created. It was quite possible that Ruby hid the existence of her new skill from her team, given how dangerous it was. Although that meant she would have to shoulder the burden of all those she had killed alone.

Ozpin dropped his hand from the knotted branch that was his limb. Having experienced the effect of Ruby's technique, he could truly understand the pain of the Faunus, watching their brothers succomb to blood and terror. He had been fighting Cinder and Torchwick at the time, Ruby still in the back firing off as many shots as she could into the Faunus. Ruby spotted his fight while firing and took the shot straight to Torchwick's heart. Cinder reacted instantly and created an explosion the the left of the bullet, knocking the bullet of course. The bullet swerved to the right, directly into Ozpin's knee. Ruby ceased fire after that shot, although, after doing the calculations, she still had around eight more shots to fire. It seemed at that point she became unable to pull the trigger. In fact, she didn't even swap Crescent Rose out of scythe form for the rest of the fight. Even when Torchwick and Cinder were fleeing, Ruby could not bring herself to fire another shot. The destruction was too great, such a technique is possibly the most dangerous thing the humans have ever created. It raises the possibility of war between humans and Faunus could result in thousands more deaths, and a brutality the likes of which has never been experienced between two beings with souls. The world is changing, a shadow is forming above Remnant, blocking out the hope. If the world continues down this path, kingdoms will crumble, extinction has become a very real possibility.

"A report has come in from the Schnee girl"

"Glynda, she's no longer a Schnee, when will you learn to simply call her Weiss?" Ozpin turned his wheelchair to face his assistant "If you like, you can call her 'Snow Angel' like Mr. Arc, although I feel that would not suit you very well"

"Alright, well, Weiss' report has just come in, would you like you hear it or should I leave it for tomorrow?"

"It is late I suppose" Ozpin tented his fingers and sighed "However I have no intention of sleeping, you may as well entertain me for at least a little longer"

"Very well, sir" Glynda began the shuffle the papers in her hand, a faint smile touching her lips "As usual, Weiss' report far exceeds my expectations, included are detailed physical conditions Ruby as well as the rest of her team. Yang has made her appearance, she and Ruby fought, Ruby winning handily it seems" Glynda coughed "She described Ruby as ' The snake which has newly emerged from molting it's skin, a phoenix, who has risen from its own ashes to become beauty and strength'" Glynda coughed again "Well you get the point, sir, Ruby is stronger than ever now, although knowing what she can do…"

"If there were a single being in this world who I trust with that technique, it would be Ruby Rose" Ozpin relaxed in his wheelchair "Qrow does not take just anyone under his wing. Niece or not, if Qrow did not see something special in that child, he would not have spent the time to train her. I believe in Qrow's judgement." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee "She has the strength to understand what she has done, and overcome the consequences, I believe in her, as should you"

"You're right, sir" Glynda placed the papers on Ozpin's desk "However i do fear, for how many people saw what Ruby had done? Many of those who participated in the war do not have the skill to use a technique like that the Miss Rose did, although there will be imitations, that is my fear. Weiss, you and I are not the only people to see this power, and most are not as pure as Ruby."

"That may be true, however we must adapt to this new world, if we plan to survive in it." Ozpin wheeled his chair around his desk "Continue with the report please"

"Very well, from what Weiss has written after the fight, the team has decided to go over the mountains towards the east, and take a boat from the coast and head over to Mistral, although she fails to explain why" Glynda turned a couple of the pages in Weiss' report. "It seems that Ruby has made no mention of the Emerald girl, despite your expectations."

"That is understandable. I'm sure she wants nothing more than to place as much distance between her and Vale as possible. However, i believe she will make an attempt at Emerald sometime soon. After all she is the best chance Ruby has at finding Cinder."

"Do you really think that Emerald will help us? Even if Ruby is under the impression she was never quite on the same level as Cinder, i still have my doubts. What should we do if she betrays us?"

"No, I do not believe that Emerald will betray us, or at least to be more specific, Ruby. Those two have always seemed to share some sort of understanding. I think Emerald has more respect for Ruby than she ever had for Cinder. From what she tells us, she joined Cinder out of desperation, and remained there because there was no place for her in this world. Ruby has given her that acceptance, beside Ruby, there will always be a home for her and that is what she cherishes above all things. Cinder treated her like a slave, a henchman, whereas Ruby treats her as a friend, a sister. Ruby's compassion gave her a future, i don't think she has the ability to leave Ruby's side."

"I suppose that would explain why she decided to come to the prison in Vale, and was so adamant about staying here when Atlas tried to take her away." Glynda commented. "Did you always expect Ruby to break Emerald out? Is that why you resisted Atlas' attempts to remove her?"

"I had my suspicions, yes. Friend or not, Emerald is still the best chance Ruby has at finding the remaining White Fang." Ozpin closed his eyes and tented his fingers "All we have to do now is wait"

* * *

><p>Weiss has been keeping secrets. Ruby has noticed already that she's been acting differently around her, changing the subject when the conversation strays onto Vale. There is something she is not telling her, although it seems that Jaune and Pyrrha may know what it is. However, no matter how much Ruby would like to confront Weiss about it, her actions may cause negative feelings to attract the Grimm. The most important thing when travelling outside of the kingdoms is to stay calm and to stay positive. The Grimm feed of negative emotions, and anger, sadness, jealousy, resentment, all of those things can spell the death of all six in their party. Jaune and Yang Ruby did not have to worry about in the slightest, Sun and Pyrrha were potential hazards, being so focused on the well being of those dear to them. Weiss however was easily set off on the smallest accusation. Ever since Ruby had met her, Weiss had continued to believe herself to be above others, even now, after all that had happened, she believed herself to be unique, deserving of special attention. The only person Ruby knew who commanded Weiss' respect was herself, even Ozpin had issues with Weiss on occasion. Yet if Ruby approached Weiss and accused her of being a traitor, not only would Weiss feel anger at the accusation, but Pyrrha who already had doubts about Weiss may turn against her. The dissention within the team would almost certainly pique the interest of the Grimm, and Ruby did not feel comfortable provoking the Grimm so far from safety. If the Grimm found them, they would be chased all the way to the eastern shore, which would be still several days even at full speed. Especially with Jaune who would have to be carried.<p>

In the beginning when Ruby had just began living outside the kingdoms, there were many times that her poor self control would lead to her getting into trouble with Grimm. Luckily her speed would let her escape from almost any Grimm. For months, ever week or so she would have to use her semblence to escape from a group of Grimm, until she decided to find out why she was attacked so often. A man who lived to the north of Vacuo was the only person she spoke to who would give her an answer. His name was Ravn, and what he told her Ruby would never forget.

"Legends tell us not the events of the past, but rather, the outcome. When man first came to Remnant, they were an imperfect species, They themselves were born of anger and hatred, rage unmatched by nature. As time progressed man evolved, as living things must in order to survive. However the darkness in their hearts prevented some of them from moving forwards. Those who moved forwards became the future of mankind, while those who could not overcome their madness succombed to the darkness became creatures of darkness themselves. The Grimm are descendants of mankind, like us. The Grimm are those who could not evolve and so they allowed the darkness to consume them, and with that darkness began to infect the natural world. They feed on the darkness, anger, hate, jealousy, resentment, they are attracted to these emotions, like wasps to sap. Therefore the secret to existing outside the kingdoms for any amount of time is to separate yourself from the darkness inside of your heart. Only those with a pure soul can exist alongside the Grimm, a soul devoid of corruption and darkness. A soul I believe you possess, Young One. You have the ability to see the light in all things, you possess the capacity for hope the likes of which I have never seen. The advice I give you is to meditate, focus your aura and feel the world around you. Immerse yourself in the aura that surrounds you and recognize the darkness in your heart. You are on the brink of self-destruction, as are the rest of those on this earth. You must be able to control your own emotions, even in the midst of combat your emotions must not control you. If you can master yourself, not only will you avoid Grimm attacks, but you will strengthen your aura as well."

Ruby still remembered what Ravn told her. All through the year she was travelling alone she tried to rid herself of her negativity. Over the course of the next several months the attacks slowly became less and less frequent until they stopped entirely. If she was alone, Ruby could control herself almost perfectly, however, now that she was a part of a team again, it became more and more difficult to stay positive. It was her job as captain to ensure that not only she stay positive, but that the rest of the team does as well. She could not allow darkness to seep into their collective aura. Her daily meditation allowed her to feel the collective aura of her team, and root out issues with teammates. Pyrrha's aura is constantly on edge because of Weiss, Sun's aura is bright, but Blake's absence casts a heavy shadow. Jaune's aura is astoundingly strong and unwaveringly positive, Yang's aura is like a wildfire, unpredictable, dangerous always casting shadows upon other parts of her soul. If Yang was set off, the Grimm would come immediately, and in numbers corresponding to the passion in her aura. Ruby has to be careful of how she speaks to the team.

If Weiss is hiding something then the best thing to do would be to wait until they reach Mistral to confront her about it. Yet, it may take weeks to reach the kingdom and Ruby has to know what is going on with her partner or else the bond of trust they have forged will begin to crumble. She needed a point where she and Weiss would be alone, and have no fear of being interrupted by Pyrrha. For almost the entire day all six were together, the only time Weiss was alone was….

"Weiss, do you mind if I train with you tomorrow? I want to see more of your strength"

:Why the sudden interest?" Weiss looked puzzled "You always help me when I finish, why is this important?"

"I just want to see how strong you've become, nothing more" Ruby smiled, but her smile was false, and Weiss could see through it immediately.

"Alright then, We can "train" I suppose" Weiss turned away from her friend "Just don't lose your faith in me when you see what I have done"

Weiss knew something was wrong, Ruby could tell the shift in her aura, even without meditating. "Alright Weiss, tomorrow morning then" She tried to smile, but her lips refused to listen to her will. "Alright team! we should stop for now, It's a little early, but we have a rough run for tomorrow, so we have to rest up"

Everyone nodded and began to set up their mats and start a fire. Ruby took her Reaper Cloak and went off into the woods. She donned her cloak and set calmed herself in preparation for her meditation. She had been close to losing herself during her brief conversation with Weiss. She did not want to stop early, they could probably have gone for another hour before the sun began to set, but her emotions had begun to take control.

Ruby pulled the hood of her cloak over her eyes and sat down. During her meditation sessions she did not want to make herself known to enemies, so the Reaper Cloak helped her stay undetected. While she was meditating she was very vulnerable, especially to Grimm attacks, Even if she could not move until she was out of her meditation state, she would be able to sense the aura of approaching attackers. She closed her eyes and allowed her soul to slip from her body. Meditation was the act of removing her soul from her body, and becoming a being of pure aura. In this state her aura and semblance control were heightened, and allowed her to see the aura of all living things around her. During her meditation sessions, it was her duty to observe the aura state of her team, as well as to sense the aura of the plants and wildlife that surrounded them. With this she could sense the amount of darkness in the environment, which would give her the opportunity to predict how likely the Grimm would be to attack their camp. It was believed that the Grimm could not produce an aura, and as such do not have souls, however Ravn had told her the truth behind the Grimm's aura.

"It is common knowledge that the Grimm do not have a soul, but that information is a lie. The Grimm do have souls, however they are not easily noticed to the standard Hunter. A Grimm soul is devoid of the light that is the source of our soul, and because of this are very hard to spot. Darkness without light is simply nothing, a void, which is why the Grimm are considered soulless. A Grimm soul is a void, but it does exist, as do Grimm aura. Every living being has a touch of Grimm aura, since every living being has some darkness in their hearts. When Grimm aura is active, not only does it infect your own aura, but it seeps into the aura of all living things. When the Grimm travel, remnants of their aura are left in the plants and animals in the area they pass through. Meditation will help you see these things, but you must remember, even if the Grimm have an aura and a soul, they are not people. They cannot be reasoned with, nor communicated with. Also, you must always remember, if a human or Faunus become tainted with darkness in their soul, it will consume them, and they will become a Grimm. As the world grows darker, you must act as a light to show the path to those on the verge of losing themselves. You are among the select few who can sense dark aura, and that means you must bear the responsibility to guide those who have fallen to darkness."

Everything Ravn told her was true, now that she was aware of it, she could feel dark aura manifesting itself in all things. It worried her, but it seemed that the dark aura must be strong enough to consume the light aura in the persons soul for that person to fall to darkness. From her experience, the average person is around forty percent dark aura at all times. Once the dark aura becomes fifty percent or greater, Grimm can sense it, and once it reaches eighty percent, the light aura begins to be consumed. Only once had she ever pushed her aura to eighty percent, at the request of Ravn. Once Ruby could control her dark aura, she could consciously measure the amount of dark aura in her body, by focusing on the pain and anger in her heart she could raise the darkness higher and higher. Ravn wanted her to experience this, although he never spoke a word as to why. It was still a mystery as to why Ravn wanted her to experience so much dark aura. She assumed it was to understand how much it would take to consume a person, as well as how easy dark aura is to manifest in the soul. Although there was a part of that experience she still remembered, even Ravn had been told about this. There was such a rush of power that came with giving her body to dark aura. The temptation to fall to the dark and acquire such immense power was incredible. Without Ravn she would have fallen from grace at that point. The feeling terrified her, more than anything she had ever experienced.

From her perspective, looking down on her own body, she could see the aura of everything around her. Ruby watched as Weiss' aura separated itself from the rest of the team and began to make it's way to where Ruby's body rested. Ruby watched Weiss' aura as it walked towards her. Weiss' aura was strange, the living dust she had taken into her body possessed an aura. It was difficult for Ruby to master even light and dark aura, Weiss must maintain balance between three different auras. Ruby had to teach Weiss about dark aura, any slight imbalance in her soul and Weiss could either be consumed by darkness or turn herself into a dust crystal. Both things Ruby would like to prevent.

"Ruby are you here? I wont be able to find you if you have your cloak on" Weiss chose a fallen tree and sat down.

Ruby allowed her soul to enter back into her body "You know, for not being able to sense me, you were pretty close." Weiss looked up startled to see Ruby sitting in front of her about three feet away. "I don't think anyone's ever come as close as you to finding me with the cloak on" Ruby laughed.

"Well, i guess I'm just the greatest teammate you've ever had, now aren't I" Weiss smiled, however the smile began to fade immediately. "Ruby, I've been lying to you."

"I know" Ruby beamed at Weiss.

"You KNOW?" Weiss replied, shocked.

"Of course I know." Ruby's smile faded. "I could sense the shift in your aura when you would change the subject away from Vale. All I want to know is why. Why have you been lying to me, and what is it about Vale that is so important I don't find out about?"

"Well for one, the reason I've been lying to you is because I didn't want to betray our friendship, I know how you feel about Ozpin, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable"

"What about Ozpin, Weiss?" Ruby tried her best to calm herself, she could feel the dark aura manifesting around her guilt.

"I've been sending reports back to Ozpin and Glynda about our team, our progress and our goals." Weiss stated.

Ruby forced herself to calm down. She had spent so much effort into hiding from Ozpin, so that she could make her apology at the appropriate time. If Weiss was relaying her plans back to Ozpin, not only did he know about her but also her plans, but also…

"Weiss, did you tell Ozpin about Penny? Please tell me you didn't"

"I did not, although I did tell him about our plan to go to Mistral."

"Why would you do this? I want to know, what did you expect the result of this be?"

"I believe you made a mistake, not going to see Ozpin on graduation day. Ozpin is as much a part of this next fight as you or I. Even if you still feel the guilt of crippling Ozpin, which I highly doubt you did, he needs to know about what we are doing."

"I did it Weiss, his legs are because of me" Ruby hung her head.

"Ruby I don't think you understand, there's no way you could have caused that damage to him, none of your attacks would have been able to break through his aura anyways" Weiss looked into Ruby's eyes "Unless, you did, somehow break his barrier. There were stories of a new Huntress that the people have named the Red Devil, a Huntress who uses technique specifically to kill people, theres no way that's you, right?"

Ruby looked into Weiss' eyes, her own beginning to tear up "I called the technique Aura Bullets. It uses my own aura to cancel out the defensive effect of the enemies, giving whatever attack I use full force against a defenseless opponent."

"So you're the Red Devil then" Weiss dropped her head into her hands. "Ruby, that technique won us the war, no matter how disgraceful of a style it may be, I can't hate you for it." Weiss looked back to her friend "I believe in you Ruby, if you created this technique, then I will become the Fate to accompany the Red Devil in the pits of Hell"

Ruby burst into tears "You know, I really kinda like the name" Ruby smiled back at her friend "Now, enough about Ozpin, I suppose it's not the biggest issue, we can speak later. I need to talk to you about something very important."

"Important? What do you need to talk to me about?"

"Your aura Weiss"


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

"My aura? What does that mean? I've learned how to control my aura since I was five, Most likely only Pyrrha is better at controlling it than I am"

"This is important, Weiss, and I don't think you've really thought about it. When I was travelling I met a man named Ravn and he told me a lot about aura and how aura works."

"Wait a second, you met Ravn? Ravn is supposed to be dead!" Weiss exclaimed.

"You knew him?" Ruby asked, confused.

"I didn't know him, no, actually I'm surprised you didn't know you he was, he was considered one of the strongest Hunters to ever come out of Vacuo. With your fascination for heroes I would have guessed you'd have heard of him, especially since you grew up with Qrow."

"What does Qrow have to do with this? How is he related to Ravn, Qrow grew up in Vale and Ravn in Vacuo."

"Qrow and Ravn, they were legendary brothers, orphaned during the Faunus Rights Revolution, they were separated and taken in by Vytal, just like the rest of the orphans. I heard this story when I went on a trip to Vacuo with my family. Ravn and Qrow were the strongest fighters to have joined the two kingdoms. As I'm sure you know, Qrow was admitted to Beacon two years early, just like you, although he didn't even go to Signal, he was admitted because he go in a fight with a second year group and managed to stand his ground until the professors came, Qrow used a hooked metal pipe as his weapon in that fight, which eventually lead to his use of a scythe."

"Ummm, Weiss…" Ruby looked slightly uncomfortable "How do you know all of this? Isn't some of this kind of.. personal?"

"The Schnee Dust Company keeps detailed information on all of Remnants strongest fighters in some weird kind of loyalty program. I'm not really sure why myself, but when I was a kid I would read some of the files and imagine what it would be like to be a Huntress. I read Qrow's file, your father's file, as well as Ravn's file." Weiss paused to catch her breath before continuing. "What's interesting about Qrow and Ravn is the amount of similarities between him and Qrow. Ravn also was admitted to Flare, the Vacuo academy, two years early as well, and he was admitted because he got in a fight with a team and stood his ground. The most interesting thing, however, about the fight Ravn had is that he was never confirmed to have used a weapon in that fight."

"What? Not use a weapon? How? He was up against four people who had trained for years and he didn't die?" Ruby's confusion had risen to new heights.

"No, what the teachers at Flare had found out as Ravn trained is that he never seemed to need a weapon. Every time they would give him a weapon, he would lose it, or throw it away. The most interesting thing about Ravn is that he used his aura directly in a fight. Instead of using a weapon to increase his strength, he maximized his speed by forgoing his weapon entirely and focusing on hand to hand combat. His technique was called Aura Blades, not unsimilar to your Aura Bullets. By focussing his aura into the palms of his hands he could manifest his aura into foot long blades that extended out of the palm of his hands. His technique went beyond yours, instead of imbuing his own aura into an object, he created an object made entirely of aura, although his technique was just as deadly as yours when it came to fighting beings with souls."

"What do you mean? There's no way he could have done that, he was such a sweet man… There's no way"

"He did. The reason you've never heard of him is because several years before you were born, he killed the headmaster of Flare and disappeared. After that every record of his incredible history was erased, as well as every record of his Aura Blades technique. I'm guessing if anyone had found out about your Aura Bullets, the same would have happened to you." Weiss let her eyes drop to the ground. "I'm glad no one ever did" She finished quietly.

Ruby let Weiss' words hang in the air, heavy "So basically, I learned how to control aura from a murderer." Ruby allowed this to sink in "But he was sooooo nice, are you sure there aren't some type of circumstance when he killed the headmaster?"

"Well i don't know about the circumstances, all I know is what was in the file. I could very easily have missed something, but as far as I know, yes, you were taught aura by possibly one of the most disgraced Hunters ever to have existed." Weiss laid a hand on Ruby's shoulders "But I'm sure that the things he's taught you are true, he was the uncontested master of aura, so what did you have to tell me?"

Ruby took a few moments to compose herself before continuing. "As I was saying, I learned some secrets about aura while I was with Ravn. First off, Grimm do have an aura. That is important for what I need to tell you. Grimm posses a Dark aura, as a counterbalance to our Light aura. The important thing to remember is that every being with a soul has both Dark and Light aura, do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Basically, despite what everyone believes, Grimm do have aura, and we as humans possess a piece of the same type of aura that the Grimm do, right?"

"And Faunus. But yeah, you're smarter than I am so I figured you'd pick this up faster than me" Ruby flashed a smile at Weiss before continuing. "Sentient beings are special in the sense that they contain both Dark and Light aura. This includes all animals as well, but not plants. Plants are the opposite of Grimm, possessing only Light aura, although in trace amounts. That's why you don't see any plant based Grimm, only those that resemble animals. The point that I'm making is that any being with any amount of Dark aura runs the risk of turning into Grimm. Do you understand?"

"Alright so what you're saying is that everything except plants has some Dark aura, and it's possible to turn into Grimm if they allow their Dark aura to overwhelm their Light aura…. Right?"

"Yes" Ruby nodded relieved "This is going a lot better than I'd expected, to be honest. Continuing, for the most part, humans and Faunus don't have to worry about being turned into Grimm. If a human were to be consumed by their Dark aura, it would take either an extremely traumatizing event, followed by several days of horrible events happening to one person. The odds of this happening to the average person is almost zero, and then on the other hand, if you attune yourself with the Dark aura in your body, it is also possible to consciously allow the Dark aura to take control."

"Alright, so after everything you've told me you're basically telling me there's nothing to worry about?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at Ruby, who continued to look at Weiss with concern.

"No, under normal circumstances, yes, the average person does not need to worry, but Weiss, you're not under normal circumstances are you?"

"What does that even mean? unless, do you think…?"

"Yes, the living dust you took into your body introduced a third aura type to your system." Ruby took Weiss' hand into her own "Listen to me, because you have three different types of aura now, it's going to be exponentially easier to lose yourself, on either side. During my meditation, I monitor the aura of the team and assess whether or not i need to take action in someway. I noticed that you had more than two types of aura, so I decided to meditate one morning while you trained." Ruby looked into her friends eyes. "On one hand, if you become emotionally unbalanced, you will succomb to your Dark aura and become a Grimm. Whatever happens, I will do everything in my power to stop that from happening, but on the other hand, if you allow the Dust aura to become to active in your body without being able to fully control it, your entire body will become a replica of the type of living dust you put into your body. I won't be able to stop that from happening to you." Tears began to well up in Ruby's eyes. "If you begin to turn into a Grimm, I can stop that from happening, but if the dust takes control, theres nothing I will be able to do."

Weiss took her hand and caressed Ruby's face. "So if I need to master this Dust aura, what do I need to do? You need to show me how to control my aura, I'm sure Ravn showed you, plus after seeing your Aura Bullets, you probably have more control than I do." Weiss wipped the tears from Ruby's eyes with her thumbs. "Teach me Ruby. Show me what I have to do"

Ruby looked into Weiss' face and nodded "When you wake up to train tomorrow, wake me up. Instead of your normal training, we're going to do aura training tomorrow. I'll teach you how to meditate, so you can see your own aura, and then learn to control it from there."

"Alright, I promise you Ruby, I will do whatever is in my power to never lose you. I will never lose myself, because you will be right here, beside me to show me the path. Captain" Weiss smiled. Ruby nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. She could not fail, not anymore.

* * *

><p>Over the past few days, Ruby and Weiss have been spending unnatural amounts of time alone. Yang, like any sister would be, was very excited for Ruby and her relationship with Weiss. In fact, she was more surprised that it had taken them this long to hook up after all how they treated each other at the Academy. Every morning the two would sneak away at dawn, returning for breakfast covered in sweat, the would do the same thing in the evenings, although they would come back remarkably less sweaty. For Yang, this could only mean one thing, because in all her years of experience, this kind of behaviour only ever meant one thing. Sex. Ruby and Weiss were absolutely banging in the forest whenever they made camp. Yang giggled thinking about it, her sister and one of her best friends were in a relationship. It was almost comical that this would happen now of all times, while the world teetered on the edge of darkness. Absolutely ridiculous. In fact, the more Yang thought about it, the less likely it seemed. Weiss was so serious all the time, and Ruby so awkward talking about Weiss in front of the group, so there was obviously something going on. But it was just…<p>

"Thinking about your sister having sex again?"

"Sun. If you bring that up one more time, that tail of yours is going to come out your mouth." Yang flashed her red eyes at Sun before continuing "How do you always know anyways? As far as I know you can't read minds."

"You always get this really puzzled look on your face and then shake your head repeatedly when you think about Ruby and Weiss." Sun laughed " I swear you should just go and ask Ruby what's going on, I'm sure she'll tell you, you are her sister after all"

"Well, yeah, i guess" Yang looked towards the back of Ruby's head, bobbing up and down in perfect rhythm with Weiss, who walked beside her. The two were deep in conversation. "If she wanted people to know, she wouldn't have made such an effort to hide it. I don't want to make Ruby and Weiss uncomfortable." Yang sighed and looked sky, shading her eyes from the fading light off the horizon.

"Well, you should at least talk to her about it, even if she just tells you to fuck off"

"Maybe tonight, we should be stopping soon anyways." As if on cue, Ruby motioned for the group to set up camp in a clearing. Yang watched as their nightly routine unfolded, Pyrrha led Jaune to a spot, the furthest away from Weiss without seeming rude, and explained that it was the most comfortable. Ruby and Weiss laid their beds down beside each other and then continued their discussion from earlier. Yang and Sun stomped around the clearing and threw their bags down in the softest spot they could find and then flung themselves onto the ground and relaxed. Yang waited patiently while Pyrrha began preparing a fire, while Sun and Jaune laughed and told jokes, until Ruby and Weiss both stood up and walked off into the trees. She had decided, being unable to speak to Ruby directly about her and Weiss, to follow them on their nightly journey. If she stayed far enough away so that Ruby and Weiss couldn't detect her aura, then she would be able to hear what they said to each other with her heightened hearing.

Five minutes after the two women left, Yang excused herself and made her way into the woods, following the trail Ruby left with her heavy footfalls and big black boots. Weiss' footsteps were too delicate to disturb the ground, so Yang didn't have much hope tracking her without seeing where she had gone. After ten or so minutes of following Ruby's trail, she came upon a clearing, in the center of the clearing Ruby sat crosslegged on the ground, alone, with no sign of Weiss. After waiting for Weiss to return for several minutes, Yang's impatience began to kick in, she was on the verge of barging into the clearing when Ruby finally spoke.

"You know, it's rude to spy, Yang, although you never seem to care about being rude" Ruby's laugh sung out into the silence of the forest, clear and bright as crystal. Yang lived for that sound.

"How did you know I was there?" Yang stepped into the light of the rising moon. "I didn't make any sound, I didn't even emit aura"

"True, if it wasn't me, I don't think I would have sensed you until you came a little closer. But since we grew up together, im in tune with your aura in a completely different level. I didn't even have to start meditating to feel you following us."

"Meditating? is that what you do every time you disappear? If that's all you do out here, how come Weiss comes with you?" Yang looked around "Speaking of which, where is she? She's out here with you right?"

"Yep." Ruby nodded toward the white rock on her right "She's right here beside me, I'm training her to meditate."

Yang looked at the rock Ruby motioned to dumbfounded. Was it possible for Weiss to shapeshift? or was Ruby really crazy? Did the year alone completely break her?

"Really Yang? Are you serious? did you already forget I have a Reaper Cloak?" Ruby sighed "Sometimes you can just be such an idiot"

Yang rubbed the back of her head sheepishly "Riiiiiiight" She laughed awkwardly "Soooooo, why are you meditating? isn't that just for monks and people with anger issues?"

"This is a little deeper than that. this is more like aura training. When we meditate we focus completely on our aura and the aura around us. When we do this, our consciousness rises out of our physical bodies and manifests itself into our aura. When we do this, it lets us practice aura control without worrying about first manifesting aura physically."

"Ruby" Yang looked at her sister with concern. "When did you become such a nerd?"

Ruby broke out laughing "Oh shut up Yang" Ruby wiped the budding tears from her eyes. "A lot happened to me during the past year, and I learned a lot of stuff from people way smarter than me. I'm just repeating what they told me"

"Oh" Yang smiled at Ruby "So what are you doing this aura training for? Weiss was always great at aura control."

Ruby's smile faltered slightly. "Well, Weiss is coming back now, I'd rather let her explain what's going on" The rock to Ruby's right began to move, and the Weiss suddenly appeared, lying flat on the ground.

"Damn, Ruby, I thought you said this is supposed to get easier the more I do it, but it hurts now more than ever"

"It's fine, once you get used to the mental stress it'll be super easy" Ruby rubbed Weiss' forehead "Anyways, Yang is here, and she wants to know what you're doing"

"Weiss' eyes shot open "YANG goddamit, i thought this was supposed to be private Ruby, why did Yang come?"

"She followed us when we left, I couldn't really sense her until we started meditating." Ruby was trying her best to calm Weiss down.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" Yang chimed in.

"No, you deserve to know, we are team RWBY after all" Weiss sighed "I guess Ruby was doing the right thing by leading you here" She shot Ruby a nasty look, Ruby giggled awkwardly and blushed "So, Yang, you have had no connection to Remnant for the better part of a year right?"

"Yup" Yang felt like she was getting included in a secret club. The people who knew Weiss' secret.

"Okay, so you have no idea what's happened this past year?"

"Yep"

"Alright, I'll start at the beginning then" Weiss began to explain to Yang all that had happened to her over the past year, starting with the discovery of the new dust type and ending with her disowning from the Schnee family. As Weiss talked Yang underwent a series of emotions, from confusion, to disgust, to sadness, finally settling on awe.

"So basically you're like, a god now?" Yang asked, when Weiss shook her head Yang could feel the stress and sadness hiding behind her friends cold facade.

"Yang, you and I think that this is super cool and should tell everyone, but this is a big problem for Weiss, everyone in Remnant doesn't even consider her human anymore, she's lower than a Faunus is the status quo." Ruby took Weiss' hand in her own. Yang raised an eyebrow "Not everyone in this world thinks the way we do, so please don't talk about this to anybody outside the group, actually, don't talk about it at all. Until Weiss decides she's ready to face a world who's going to oppose her every step of the way, we need to be quiet about this."

"Gotcha Cap'n" Yang grinned and saluted her two teammates "Anyways, past that, you never told me why you're out here training"

"Ruby, you can explain this one, I think you understand it better than I do" Yang raised an eyebrow as Weiss closed her eyes to rest "Don't let it go to your head though, I'm still smarter than you."

Ruby laughed and patted Weiss on the forehead "I'll take what I can get" She turned to Yang and began the same talk she had with Weiss not a week earlier. She explained the basics of Dark Aura and Light Aura, as well as spoke about the consequences of allowing too much Dark Aura into your body. She ended her presentation by explaining Weiss' condition in depth, as well as the possible outcomes, should Weiss not be able to control her aura.

Yang listened patiently, which was strange for her. Usually she was restless and always moving, but the weight of Ruby's words seemed to weigh her down, and all she could do was listen. After Ruby had finished, Yang waited for several seconds before beginning her own speech. "When I was away, on the Islands, they thought of things the same way you do now." Yang paused for a moment to collect her thoughts "On the Islands, there are practically no Grimm, and the way the sages explained this is that because there's almost no conflict, Grimm don't manifest as often as they do here. They explained this whole Dark, Light aura thing to me too, although they don't call it aura there, they call it chakra, but it's the same thing. A person has two types of chakra in their body, basically light and dark, and the point of their training is to keep the two in balance. If you get rid of one type completely, then you lose part of your functionality, right?" Ruby nodded "When I trained with the monks, I learned how to keep the two in balance, which is how I learned how to control my semblance. Since my semblance requires my Dark chakra to take control of certain parts of my body, which is why my eyes turn red, I could only access it when I was angry before. Now, because I can manage the flow of Dark chakra in my body, I can not only use my semblance at will without changing the level of Dark chakra in my body, but I can focus it into other parts of my body, arms, legs, anywhere." Ruby looked up in surprise, and Weiss opened one eye with interest "Once we have a good chance to fight, I'll show you what it looks like. But more importantly, when I was on the Islands, there were some of the sages who took other chakra into their bodies, and they are doing fine, so I think Weiss will be able to control this, and from what I've seen on the Islands, she's going to get a hell of a lot stronger when she does."

Ruby grinned and squeezed Weiss' hand, Weiss herself closed her eye and allowed a slight smile to brush her lips. "Well, if you did all this training before, do you have any tips" Weiss asked Yang.

"Well, no, I did exactly what you are doing. Although I don't know what to do with three chakras, I asked the sages but they refused to give me a third chakra, something about it being too dangerous, since I'm so impulsive. If I'm honest with you, the fact that you managed to last this long without being consumed is pretty impressive, considering you've never done this training until now. I think the sages would be impressed, for sure."

"Well I _am _very talented" Weiss tried her best to brush off the compliment, but Yang could tell it meant a lot to her confidence. From her experience, it was incredibly difficult, and Ruby is a notoriously bad teacher, so Weiss' confidence might be shaking slightly after all her work.

The three women stood and Ruby motioned to leave. Yang began to stride ahead of her friends, Ruby supported Weiss for a little while her strength came back to her. As they made their way back to the camp Yang finally had to ask the question that had been on her mind for too long. "So you were just training, right? That's it right? or is there more that your telling me?"

"Well, I guess we're just not telling you, I mean, we don't train _all _the time" Ruby drew Weiss closer to her side and winked at Yang.

Weiss immediately smacked Ruby across the face "No. Don't listen to her, she's an idiot. I am training, not fucking Ruby." Weiss crossed her arms and strode ahead.

"I guess she got her strength back" Ruby shrugged and grinned. Yang laughed, the sound rang out in the woods, the sound seemed perverse.

* * *

><p>"Queen, there's someone here to see you"<p>

Blake opened her eyes to the darkness of her room. It took a few moments to register what her guard had said. 'See her'? She didn't get visitors anymore, not for a long while. Every single person the guards turned away before even consulting her, for her safety. Her visitor had to have a fair bit of weight in the Faunus community to receive an audience with her. She wondered who it was.

As she got dressed, A black tank top and tights with a dark purple scarf. She began to tie a bow over her ears, but thought better of it. It had become a habit while at Beacon, and she actually liked the look of the bow, but the Faunus were particular about it since it hid her ears. It made her seem like she was ashamed of her Faunus heritage. She tied the ribbon around her wrist and made her way to exit her prison. When she opened the door, a guard stood in her path.

"Take me to see this visitor then, If she is to have an audience with your _Queen_"

"No, Queen Belle, the visitor will me with you here, were are having a table set up now."

"You mean to tell me that the only outsider to have the pleasure of speaking to me is going to do so here? This is not fitting for a meeting with royalty." The words Blake spoke were like sandpaper on her throat. Her manner was so unlike who she was, but she had long since learned that the Faunus did not need Blake Belladonna to lead them to a future, but rather a figurehead to justify their outrage. She had given up on trying to control them, so instead she acted as they wished her too, even if it made her feel like she was committing suicide.

"We can't have you stray too far from the guards. You need to stay protected at all times."

"I see, so the guards are incapable of moving to protect their Queen." Blake shook her head. She was a better fighter than anyone else in the camp, and yet she was still protected by these lazy bastards. "Very well, I will receive the visitor in my chambers, send them in"

Before the guards had a chance to retort, she turned on her heel and strode back into her cell. In the time it took for her visitor to arrive, she amused herself trying to think of who it would be. Ruby came to mind, perhaps she managed to get an audience, although she was a human and most likely traveling with Weiss, so the chances were fairly low. It could be Ozpin or Glynda, although once again, humans were unlikely to be allowed access to the Faunus camp. Perhaps it would be Sun again, the thought of him made her blush slightly, but once again, he had told her, well, yelled at her through the door that he was going to find Yang and get the rest of team RWBY before he came back, so once again it was unlikely. Out of the people she would be glad to see, this left Velvet, Qrow, Pyrrha, Emerald, even Adam would be a good distraction, even if his visit might be a little self serving. As much as she racked her brain, she couldn't find a likely person to visit.

The door opened and a red haired man walked in, wearing a white suit, a black hat and carrying a cane.

"You." Blake growled.

"Hello Kitty, Me, that's right, the infamous Roman Torchwick" He smiled his practiced, beautiful, sickening smile.

"Why are you here asshole? how did the Faunus even let you in here after all you've done"

"Well here's the thing Belle, I can call you Belle right? Anyways, It doesn't matter what I've done, because even though they may not trust me, the need me, whether they like it or not." He smiled again "You don't even understand your own people do you Belle? I'm just the catalyst. I offer them the tools to accomplish their goals, and in return, I can accomplish mine."

"Why are you here asshole" Blake bared her fangs.

"Woah there Belle, no need to get feral, you see, I'm a businessman. I came prepared." He uncaps his cane and pulls out a document, from the glimpse Blake saw, It looked like a weapons contract.

"You see Belle, I have a, proposition, for you" He smiled again.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Chapter 5_**

Jaune had never been the strongest fighter, Pyrrha knew this better than anyone else, but it was a shame for him to be injured like this after all his progress. Over the three years they had trained together, his improvement was dramatic, almost unreal. It was likely only Ruby possessed more innate talent than him, although it took a fair bit of guidance for Jaune to reach an understanding of what Pyrrha showed him. Yet despite his complete alienation from the world of combat and Hunting, he picked up each concept almost immediately and mastered them all faster than anyone Pyrrha had ever known. Had he not lost his physical ability, he easily could have surpassed her within the year, which would have made Pyrrha the proudest woman on the planet. She loved Jaune with all her heart, a heart which hurts each time she looks at his blackened, scarred body.

Jaune looked up into Pyrrha's face, being roused by a sudden wetness on his cheek. He reached up and wiped the tear off Pyrrha's cheek with his thumb and smiled. She lived for that smile, that pure, untainted happiness. After the war, Jaune had stopped smiling, he would go for days, his brow furrowed in frustration, and eyes red from sleepless nights. It broke her heart to see her beloved broken, she tried everything to help him get better, she paid for the surgery on his eye since his family couldn't afford it, but nothing she did had any effect. The old Jaune was blown up with the bomb, what remained was a shell, a shell that no one could fill but Jaune himself. Pyrrha was helpless to do nothing but watch as her lover in pain, and so she vowed, then, to never allow Jaune to be in that situation again. Any and all threats to Jaune will be take care of by her before Jaune can be put in more pain. He is her responsibility, and she will not allow failure.

Over the course of the past year, Pyrrha had always been at Jaune's side, they did counselling together, and in turn counselled the students of Beacon. Since Jaune had been physically unable to stay a student at Beacon, and Pyrrha had already graduated, they spent all their time helping the current students. Among their more frequent visitors, were Cardin and Velvet, Cardin had made an incredible effort to open up his world view, and he tried to do this by befriending Velvet. In the beginning Velvet was very much against the idea, but as time went on and Cardin's effort became more appreciated, the two seemed to get along. Apart from those two, the only other regulars were Nora, Ren and Emerald, who they would go into the prison and talk to. It seemed that, in helping others with their issues, Jaune could somehow validate himself. She wanted nothing more than to return to those times, but the future would not stop for her, and she had a role to play, a very important one. At her root, no matter her feelings, she was a gladiator, and she would fight until her body failed her.

She shook her head to rid herself of thoughts of her past. Ruby and Weiss had disappeared again, and this time Yang went with them. She could not imagine what the three of them could be doing, although the amount of time Ruby and Weiss spent alone together reminded her of Jaune and herself. She could not help but smile at the thought of them being together, they truly were a perfect pair. Although now with Yang joining them, she could not fathom what the three could get up to. Casting her thoughts back to when she had agreed to help Weiss train, the sheer, undirected force behind her movements. She worried for Ruby, she did not believe Ruby knew just the extent of Weiss' new power, and how much of Weiss' energy was spent to simply control it. However, after seeing the way Ruby fought Yang, she may be the only one to be able to keep up with Weiss' strength. However much she pretended to be weak so to avoid special treatment, she was indeed a beast, well deserving of her spot at Beacon. She had got to the Academy with sheer talent, but now that she's spent so much time dedicated to becoming not only stronger, but the strongest, she may very well achieve that title. Even with true monsters like Weiss fighting, they paled in comparison.

She moved Jaune's head off her lap and began to prepare dinner. Ruby, Weiss and Yang should be back in around ten minutes or so, and she wanted food to be ready by the time they returned.

"Remember to make enough for Weiss, now that she's eating again." Jaune piped up from behind his book.

"Yes, yes, I know. I'm glad she's trying to be normal again" Pyrrha sighed "Although, i hate to speak of her that way. She just makes me uncomfortable."

Jaune closed his book and set it aside "It's kn Pyrrha, she's our friend, and would never put us in danger, plus you know what Ruby told us"

"Of course, Jaune, but how do I know she can do it? all of what she told us about aura types? I've never heard of it before, and I've trained my aura since I was a child. She speaks like she knows what she is doing, but she always does." Pyrrha shook her head "I hate these doubts of mine, but I need to keep you safe, and Weiss, even if she's a friend, I can't allow you to be with them if they are a danger to you."

Jaune sighed. "I know you want to protect me Pyrrha, but these are our allies, our _friends_, I trust Ruby and Weiss to control themselves, you should too"

"I do trust them, but I cannot help but fear. They are walking roads that we have never even glimpsed and although I trust them, how can i trust their destination, when neither of them fully understand the possibilities?"

"I think you're putting too little faith in Ruby, Pyrrha. She's not the clumsy dork that she was at Beacon. She has done incredible things, and matured more than any of us. It's important for you to see her as a woman now, not a kid."

Pyrrha sighed. He was right, of course. He had this miraculous way of understanding people. He was a great captain, always ready to help out his team, and always knowing exactly how to do it. And her most of all. Having spent so much time at her side, he could almost pick the words out of her brain before she had even thought of them herself. It was always a marvel to see how he could so easily believe in others. "You're right. Again." She began to heat water over the fire. "I will trust them then. They are our friends, and I believe that they will succeed in whatever venture they chose. However do NOT ask me to leave you and Weiss alone. I will not allow any harm to come to you, even accidental. Until I am sure she is under control then it will cease to be an issue." She wagged a wooden spoon at him sternly.

Jaune lay back into his "Whatever you say, my Goddess" He smiled up at her. She blushed, her cheeks turning almost as red as her hair.

"Jaune, you only call me that when were alone" She looked up into the tree's behind Jaune's bed "You didn't hear that, right Sun?" Jaune began to laugh.

"Not a word, Goddess" Sun swung down and laughed. "The others are coming back now. About three minutes away." He suspended himself from the branches by his tail. "Which one are you anyways? Which Goddess?"

Jaune had since calmed down from his bout of laughter. "I call her Nike, Goddess of Victory." He smiled up at Sun "It's one of the eastern gods. I read about her once in a textbook and thought it fit Pyrrha pretty well don't you think? Nike was her nickname in team JNPR. Plus its similar to her last name so its doubly fitting"

Throughout the conversation, Pyrrha had regained most of her composure, or at least enough to glare at Jaune and quickly put an end to the conversation. She got back to work preparing dinner.

Ruby, Yang and Weiss all walked back into camp together, chatting away on a variety of topics at once. Sun ran out towards them and Jaune even made the effort to turn and wave them over. Pyrrha smiled despite herself, there seemed a feeling like they were back in Beacon hanging around together worrying more about themselves then the rest of the world. Pyrrha's smile faded into a grimace as she remembered exactly why they were doing this adventure. Even though it was nice to reminisce on the bright days of their past it did not change the darkness that lay ahead of them. The light was fading from this world and if Pyrrha and Ruby and all of the other hunters and huntress' failed, there would be no dawn come tomorrow.

Pyrrha noted that Weiss looked especially exhausted after today's training. It had become standard for her to be weak when she returned but Weiss seemed a little more than weak now. Stretched thin, pale and taut like her very self was being diminished. She would have to speak to Ruby about this training of theirs.

Ruby on the other hand seemed more lively than ever. Cracking jokes and playing around with every member of the group. When dinner was served, Ruby spent more time talking than eating, and once she finally finished her food began to launch into a story from her year away. Without realizing it the entire group locked on to Ruby's voice and became silent listening to the sound of her voice ring clear in the night.

"I was traveling through Atlas one time last year, I thought it would be cool to check out the Schnee Dust Company headquarters, even if I only got to peek from the outside" Ruby winked at Weiss who blushed slightly "Anyways, I was out in Atlas, it was snowing, night time, but I didn't want to go to sleep because I knew Grimm would be coming around soon. So i kept going. The snow was getting really thick and it became harder and harder to move my feet, we don't have anywhere near that kind of weather in Vale. So i figured that I absolutely couldn't stop now, or I'd be buried while I slept. I found what I thought was a cave after a while so I set up my camp in there and got a fire going. I still didn't feel comfortable so I forced myself to stay away through the night. I tried to meditate to see if there were any Grimm nearby so I could get some rest but whenever I started to meditate I got so overwhelmed by this Grimm aura that I absolutely could not allow myself sleep. The aura belonged to a Grimm the likes of which I hope I will never meet again. Because, well, that wasn't a cave I had found."

"If it wasn't a cave then what was it?" Sun was stroking his tail the way he does when he gets nervous. Even though he tried his best to put on an air of calm and enthusiasm, recent events have put even him on edge.

"It was a Grimm. A giant Grimm, big as a mountain rising out of the ground. I don't think I would have noticed if it wasn't for the movement."

"Movement?" Sun was still stroking his tail.

"Yeah. The pressure of the aura was one thing, but I don't think I would have put two and two together had the cave I was resting in started to move north." Ruby grinned "When The Grimm had finally stopped moving i was around ten miles north of where I entered the cave. As soon as the thing stopped moving I got out as fast as I could, it was incredible, but I think I would prefer to not run into a Grimm like that for as long as I live. The six of us working together could hardly scratch a beast like that"

"I didn't know Grimm could get that big" Jaune commented "I thought they could only grow so much" He frowned "Although now that you mention it, there are alot of legends about islands that are never in the same places, and mountains that move. Even planets in the sky that astronomers find and then never see again, even when it should be visible." By now Sun had almost rubbed all the fur off the end of his tail. "Do you think all of those stories were based of Grimm growing to outrageous sizes? And if they were, are those Grimm from the legends still alive? And if they are, how big would they be now?"

The group sat silently for minutes, trying to imagine the scale of such a creature. Something who had been a giant to their ancestors and had not stopped growing since. All at once they realized, this is what they will have to defeat if they want to stop the Grimm from existing altogether. The task seemed so impossible to them even the thought of it cause a well of hopelessness to surge into their souls. Ruby could feel the shift in energy. It was not a darkness in their aura's so there was no chance of Grimm being attracted, but it was more like an absence of aura completely, like the energy they had in their bodies had vanished. Ruby decided hopelessness was a terrible affliction, something that could cause no physical effect on the body, but could crush your soul, and weaken your aura.

Ruby called for the group to settle down and head towards their beds, but the atmosphere of their party seemed off somehow. Even Jaune seemed off, pessimistic, like how he had been when he joined Beacon, before he knew anything about hunting or fighting. Only Weiss seemed to be faring well.

As Ruby and Weiss were settling down into their blankets, Weiss propped herself up on her elbow and looked over at Ruby.

"You know, I don't think you gave us enough credit" Ruby gave Weiss a baffled look "If all of us worked together under your lead, then we could absolutely take down one of those behemoths." Weiss smiled.

"I don't know Weiss, you haven't seen this thing, it was huge, bigger than I could have even imagined. And it's aura, it was stifling. If I hadn't gotten my training from Ravn i think I would have been consumed by it's rage." Ruby shuddered at the thought "There is no way we could take something like that down. Not at the level we are now"

Weiss sighed and laid back down. "Well I guess so. But we will defeat them. I promise you that."

Ruby flopped back down as well "If it's you, I'll believe every word you say" Ruby could sense a physical change in temperature from the intensity of Weiss' blushing. "Goodnigh't kiss?" Ruby asked. The sting of Weiss' hand across her face cause Ruby to smile. No matter how hopeless things got, her and Weiss, and Yang and Pyrrha and Jaune and Sun would stand together and face it head on. Then Ruby sighed, there was a figure missing from her vision, Blake was still with the Black Fang and did not seem to show any signs of being able to leave any time soon. If possible, Ruby would prefer not to have to fight a friend, although if their courses did not alter, conflict between her and Blake would be inevitable. Above all else, she desired her friends to be united again, however her desires did not matter anymore. If Blake stood in her way, Ruby would have to strike her down. No matter what.

* * *

><p>Emeralds cell wall was almost dented by the repeated strikes of her rubber ball, which she threw with perfect accuracy, hitting the nose of a crude rendition of Mercury carved into the cell wall. Ever since she joined with Cinder and Mercury she had a thing for him, she was not ashamed to admit that, and to be honest, she still did. However after everything that he and Cinder had done, she would kill herself before she fell for him again. During her time in the cell Emerald had plenty of time to reminisce about her past, the death of her parents, roaming the streets as a twelve year old girl stealing everything she could just to get by. She developed a sense of survival, taking what others had so that she herself could live. When Cinder and Mercury asked her to join their group, she didn't know anything about the White Fang, and frankly she didn't care. All she wanted was a warm bed at night, and some security that when she woke up tomorrow, she would still have food to eat, and life in her body. Cinder offered her these things, and all she asked of Emerald was to do what came naturally to her, take what once belonged to others for her own. In the beginning it was simple things, money, planes, dust, but afterwards came larger things, like families, people, lives. She would take these things without a second thought because in her mind, she was always the most important person. The one who mattered the most, the one worth protecting. She did everything Cinder asked of her, morality didn't come into question until she met Ruby.<p>

Ruby completely altered her outlook on life, and looking at the rest of her team, she was not the only one Ruby had this effect on. That ice girl used to be cold and heartless, Emerald remembered trying to steal from her once when she was younger, but Weiss had almost broken her wrist, even after she had given back everything she took. But Ruby, Ruby had no problems at all with Weiss, she even seemed to be friends with her, even though someone as cold as the Ice Queen has no right with friends like Ruby. Ruby has an aura around her, like the aura all living things have, only different, brighter. Until she had come to Beacon she had never experienced an aura like hers, sure people like Cinder had a dark aura, and generally the students and teachers from the various academy's had aura's much brighter than Cinders, but Ruby's was on a whole different level. Compared to her, even the most righteous of hunter's aura was a moon compared to her, simply reflecting her light. Ruby's aura was a shock the first time Emerald saw it, it was like a flame that drew her in. It reminded her of the fires she would light in trash cans at night just to make it through till morning, it satisfied her innate desire to survive. She flocked to it like a moth to a lamp, fluttering wildly, yet her trepidation kept her from getting too close. Ruby's presence alone made Emerald look at things differently. She began to think of all the things she had done for Cinder, all the killing, the theft, all for her own needs, and never once did she think these needs could be met any other way. She had lived her life surviving in spite, but Ruby showed her that love and hope offer far more for the soul. Ruby had won the war against the White Fang, not because of her fighting skill, but because of her magnetic personality, although her skill on the battlefield is nothing to be trifled with either. She drew Emerald to her cause, and Emerald went to prison for her, and betrayed the only familly she had for her, on the promise that Ruby would let her join her team. Although it has been over a year now since Ruby and Emerald had last seen each other.

Emerald could hear soft footfalls coming down the steps to her cell, she caught her ball and palmed it and waited for the guard to make his rounds. However the guard didn't show up, instead, Ozpin made his way in front of her cage.

"Madam Emerald." Ozpin greeted her formally, like a guest.

"Professor" Emerald gave him a nod of recognition. Visits were rare for her, she had made quite a few enemies in Vale before she had swapped sides, and those who she helped were not all too grateful. Since Pyrrha and Jaune left she had seen no one but the guard, and Cardin. Once.

"You have been remarkably well behaved. I would have expected more trouble"

"I've changed, Oz. I trust Ruby vouched for me at least. If I can convince someone like that then how can you doubt me?"

"Ruby may be a pure soul, but such a person is also likely to be deceived." Ozpin frowned at Emerald. "However I do believe you still have something to prove. I am expecting much from you, however much of what, I'm not sure."

Emerald frowned. "I don't think you need to worry about me" She paused for a second. "You know sir, you're aura is very interesting."

"How do you mean"

"I've only ever met one other with an aura like yours."

"And tell me, who shares such a detail with me?"

I'm sure you know by now. The two of you are very similar. Although I think I'm the first to have made the connection, those who are close to you and those close to her barely ever overlap."

Ozpin turned to leave "And in what way are we similar?" he asked.

"I've never met anyone other than her with two souls. both generating aura at the same time. whoever's soul you have in your body is mixing their aura with yours. I don't know how you managed to get a second soul, but when Cinder did it, it wasn't pretty. Not for her, nor her… victim."

"It would do you well not to mention this to Ruby or Weiss. and especially not Yang." Ozpin began to walk away.

"You speak like I'm going to meet them again, but I'm locked in your prison remember, the inescapable cell."

"Wrong, I don't think that title suits this cell anymore." Ozpin opened his hand and let a rose petal fall to the floor. "After all, not all birds can be caged" And with those parting words he left, letting the rose petal sit perfectly still in the dry air of the cell. Before being blown sideways by half an inch. Emerald smiled, her ride was coming, soon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Stupid. So incredibly idiotic. She was given a chance to preserve the peace between humans and Faunus and she lost control. He's dead, he's fucking dead, or as dead as a man can be with a dagger in the back of his skull. The Faunus back at the camp will be finding his body any moment now, as well as her disappearance. The Great Roman Torchwick, murdered by the Faunus in what will soon be considered the event that sparked the Faunus revolution. Blake felt sick to stomach simply considering it. She stayed in that wretched camp for so long just to stop this exact thing from happening and yet even then it was impossible to calm the masses of Faunus hungering for vengeance. Now she was running for her life, once again turning her back and running away, just like she did from the original White Fang. More than anything else that's what she found the most sickening. She thought her time at Beacon changed that aspect of herself and yet here she was, running away again.

She was very careful to leave as few traces as possible as she made her way through the night. She knew that there were trackers in the Black Fang that could track by scent alone, but even so, it would slow their progress having no footprints to track. She was the fastest of all the Faunus, but her skills were dulled from lack of use. It was unlikely she could outrun them all in her current condition. So she made her way cautiously, slower than she would like, but still with speed, due east. There was someone she knew in Mistral that might be able to help her find Ruby, although she did not know what she looked like. All she could do was pray that her contact would be able to shed some light on Ruby's location. Quite possibly the only one who could solve this problem would be Ruby.

She could hear the cries now, ringing through the night. The camp had found Torchwick at this point, as well as realized Blake was missing. Had they been a little smarter they would have found Torchwick far sooner, but they were loyal to a fault, and Blake had called to host Torchwick alone, and so they left her alone. Now her "guest" was dead and Blake was now running for her life from quite possibly the most dangerous organization to have ever existed. Soon the fires would be burning, the flames of hatred licking at the peace Blake had kept since the fall of the White Fang. There would be no calming the fires, just like with the White Fang, the only resolution to this will be bloody and temporary. Her only hope now is to find Ruby before this truly gets out of hand.

She set off to the east, leaving the chaos behind her, making her way towards the shattered moon hanging in the sky. Mistral was only a couple days walking and a few more by boat. After that maybe one week to get to Haven and meet up with her informant. Unfortunately, there is a fair bit that a psychotic group of oppressed people can do in two weeks, and possibly more depending on how far away Ruby is when Blake gets to Haven. Time is becoming an issue, and Blake needed to get to Haven as fast as possible. She began to run, her feet gliding silently in the night, a beast of shadows.

* * *

><p>Days had passed since Ruby's illl-advised story. They were nearing the coast now, the air becoming heavier, with a slight taste of salt. Yet there was still an uneasiness, something that Ruby tried her hardest to keep at bay, with constant talking and jokes, but the only one who responded was Weiss. Ruby had made a mistake in telling that story, she knew, but it was something the team had to know. If they decided not to follow her because of that information, then it would be best for them to turn back now. No one has departed, although it feels as though it's simply a matter of time.<p>

Weiss has been trying her hardest to make everyone at ease, although it is difficult to impress with her strength when her dust causes more unease and fear. She and Ruby have kept training, now with Yang tagging along, although the morning sessions are for the two of them alone. Red and white, locked in a dance, a flurry of steel and ice and fire. Weiss has been slowly gaining control over the dust portion of her soul, giving her greater control of her abilities. Ruby's been trying to convince her that the spikes coming out of her spine shouldn't be broken off after every session, but Weiss won't listen. Ruby's become aware of something inside the crystals that break off of Weiss, like small, independant auras. These spikes are not a result of using Weiss' abilities, but rather a part of Weiss herself, manifesting itself when she calls upon the Dust in her body. If Weiss keeps breaking them off, there may be serious consequences, lack of strength, both mental and physical and potentially a complete loss of Weiss' aura. She may become nothing but a husk of herself, a shell devoid of life. Ruby has to find a way to explain to Weiss that it is important to keep those around you comfortable, but that she must take care of herself, if not for her own sake, than for Ruby's. It would break her to see anything happen to Weiss, especially something serious and preventable.

They could see the coast now, a thin grey line on the horizon, as well as a fog creeping up through the damp soil. As the group neared the shores, their spirits rose with the sun, slowly burning through the fog. Something about the great vastness of the ocean appealed to Ruby, the eternal turmoil beneath the calm waters. It made her conscious of exactly how small she was, compared to life and death, she was nothing but a piece of the puzzle. But even the smallest of waves can reach the shore. Ruby called once again for a pause, it was only midday, but it would be best to leave their departure until the early hours of the morning. Plus, there was movement ahead, and Ruby needed to meditate to make sure there was no trouble. If her suspicions were correct, they may be in for a rough night.

As the group settled into their new camp, and the group split to do their usual routines. Pyrrha setting up the fire and getting out food, Jaune trying his best to help, but his movement is so stiff Pyrrha forces him to rest. Sun wanders out into the woods. Ruby honestly doesn't quite know what he does in there, but he comes back very pleased with himself so it can't be too bad. Weiss sets up her bed and meditates, since she was finally able to do it alone without Ruby's guidance, she did so at every opportunity she could. Yang left to gather some wood for the fire, as well as potentially find some animal they could eat. Ruby herself just wandered between the group, offering a hand to anyone who looked like they needed it, before setting up her own bed next to Weiss.

"You know, I think we'll be fine" Weiss had finished her meditation, but continued to sit motionless. "That story of yours did us some good. We just need a little time to accept what you told us. Eventually we will rebound, after all we could have left the moment your story ended, but we all kept going. That has to count for something."

Ruby slumped down into her freshly made bed, immediately ruining it. "I suppose, but I don't want to have everybody get too down on themselves. I know better than anyone how much that can trap a person." She sighed.

"Yes, but you were all alone. You didn't have people with you to support you and tell you how much of an idiot you were being" Weiss layed back down into her bed, visibly exhausted from meditating. "With you here, I don't think any of us will fall to the point where you were. When you finally met up with us you forgot about most of that stuff. Once we talked it out of you"

Ruby nodded to this, but did not fully agree. She tried her best to be a good leader again, but a piece of her old self remained. The nagging voice in her mind reminding her just how much of a failure she was. More than anything, Weiss' presence helped keep those thoughts at bay, but they always had a habit of creeping up on her. "I suppose yeah. I really hope you're right"

"Of course I'm right." Weiss responded in her typical Schnee confidence.

Ruby righted herself after a couple minutes of rest and began to set up her meditation. She could not help but feel uneasy, ever since they had started to near the coast. They were being followed. That much she knew, but by what she couldn't tell until she meditated. She prayed it was Grimm, at least Grimm they could kill, humans were not so easy to deal with. She sat back down on her newly arranged bedding, and began her trance. Weiss stayed close by so that she wouldn't be disturbed, meaning Ruby didn't need her cloak. Ever since a couple nights ago Ruby stopped hiding her meditation from the group, although they never asked any questions about it. Perhaps they just thought she was lazy.

Ruby could feel her aura now, as well as the rest of her team. Jaune's aura, bright and pure, white like an angel. Pyrrha, strong and red, burning with passion; Ruby could feel the heat that would arise whenever she looked at Jaune, she knew it was invasive, but it was necessary. Sun she could faintly sense out in the woods, whatever he was doing, he was enjoying himself immensely. Yang's aura was bright, like Jaune's, but alive, never settling down, and yet Ruby could sense a stillness within the chaos. A stillness she was sure was not there when Yang had left Beacon a year back. Something significant had happened when she was out in the Easter Islands, something more than training with the gurus. Then there was Weiss.

Ruby could spend hours at a time just watching Weiss' aura. An amalgamation of dust, sadness, envy, love, fear and above all these different elements was her will, bending them all into shape. A will as hard and cold as ice, never relenting in its grip. Ruby could watch as each and every stray thought or emotion was quelled at it's source. Ruby knew that Weiss was not devoid of emotion, but there was a control within her that always astounded Ruby. Weiss allowed herself to feel, the opposite of Ruby, who had no control over what she felt at all. Because of this, Weiss could keep her calm no matter the circumstance, always giving a level headed perspective in any situation. Ruby could remember when she had first met Weiss, on the grounds of Beacon, nearly blowing the both of them to pieces. So much had changed since then, the two of them had matured so much, in different ways. Weiss could control herself and her abilities at a level unmatched by any living being, and Ruby was given experience to rid her of her of her naivete. Weiss aura was a marvel to watch, white as fresh fallen snow, streaked with grey, writhing like a pit of snakes, and yet harmless. She was truly the best teammate Ruby could ask for.

Once Ruby finally took her focus away from Weiss, she began to spread her influence outwards. First she looked forwards, then back the way they had come, left and right before finally returning to her body. There would be blood tonight, a patrol of Grimm were ahead of them, another behind, and two more on each side. It was likely the four groups would be meeting in the middle of their positions at nightfall, which coincidentally is the exact spot Ruby chose to make camp. Four separate groups, each one congregating on their position, by Ruby's estimate, around 400 beowolves, of varying ages. It would be a long night.

Once Ruby came back to her body, she turned to Weiss immediately. "We have a problem" She whispered.

"What?" Weiss had been dozing off before Ruby had woken her "What do you mean? what's going on?"

"We're surrounded" Weiss looked over her shoulder to the rest of the group, then back to Weiss "Around 400 beowolves, some really old ones too" She shook her head "We can't run from this, we're going to have to fight, I need you to find Sun, I need to talk to Pyrrha"

Weiss nodded and left without a word. At time's Ruby knew that Weiss could be a little difficult, but when Ruby needed her, she would always be the first to help. Ruby watched her go, before setting off herself, over towards where Pyrrha and Yang stood, looking at Weiss running off into the forest.

"What the hell?" Yang thought out loud "Ruby, hey, what's going on with Weiss?" Ruby had just finished making her way over to the two other women.

"Listen." Ruby looked the two of them in the eyes "We have a problem and we need to act quickly if we want to survive the night"

"Ruby, what's going on?" Pyrrha asked, notes of panic slipping into her normally calm voice.

"Grimm, around 400. Beowolves, some young ones but a fair number of them have matured. Blocking off each direction, and heading this way" Pyrrha and Yang stood, shocked. "We need to prepare. We might have been able to run, but we can't leave Jaune behind. We have to fight." Ruby paused for a moment to collect herself "Yang, I need you to go and get some tree's to set up a barricade, but do it as quietly as possible. Go" Yang ran off into the forest. Ruby paused again to collect herself.

"What about me then? What should I do?" Pyrrha asked.

"I need you to look after Jaune. Do whatever it is you need to do to make sure he stays safe. Weiss is getting Sun, then he and I and Weiss are going to be making traps and some bombs for Jaune, just in case. We only have a couple of hours before they're going to start moving, so we need to be fast." Pyrrha nodded. "Now go, take care of Jaune, I can see Weiss and Sun." with that Pyrrha ran off to wake up Jaune, who had been napping in the last of the day's light. Ruby took off to meet Weiss and Sun as they made their way back into the camp.

"RUBY-!" Sun was frantic "I saw the Grimm out in the forest, but I don't think they knew I was there, I was in the trees uhh.. nevermind." He scratched the back of his head "The important thing is that theres a lot of them, we need to keep going, we can't stay here" When Ruby did not respond he began to shout "Ruby, we need to MOVE! NOW! What are we doing just sitting here?"

Weiss grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him the ground. He landed with a thump, but before he could begin to speak again Weiss cut in "Listen. Calm down and just listen. We can't run from this. What you ran into was one pack of Grimm, there are three more all meeting here tonight and we need to get ready."

"If there's more than what I was than we absolutely have to run, we can't fight off that many with just us six"

"You're forgetting Jaune's condition" Ruby said, as Weiss nodded in agreement. "If we run we are going to gave to leave Jaune to die, and I won't allow that to happen. We're going to set up our defenses and hold them off here. If we kill enough of them then the older ones should retreat, and to do that we need to be ready." Ruby looked to Weiss and grinned "Sun, how much do you know about making bombs?"

* * *

><p>Blake's instincts told her she was still being followed, but she had not seen nor heard from a single soul in days. She was near the coast now, about 4 hours away at the speed she was moving. She had found tracks of a herd of Grimm moving north, something up there had drawn their attention, although what; she did not know. The Grimm this far south didn't go north unless they had been attracted by something. There was something going on, but she could spare the time to check, she must get to Mistral and find Ruby.<p>

She made her way as quietly as she could towards the waters edge. She remembered this had been an old White Fang outpost on the shore, as long as she found it, she could take one of the ships and head out across the sea. The only problem was in finding the outpost, she had been young when last she went to Mistral, and it was likely she had forgotten exactly there the outpost had been. As well as where the boats were hidden. Given the probability that the ships were not in the best condition, there was a likelihood that she would have to spend the night on repairs. At least she was more fortunate than whoever was in the north.

As she searched through the sand, she gradually began to remember her experience with her last trip to Mistral. She remembered the sting of the salt air on her throat, she moon as it reflected of the shifting waters, and Adam. Adam was someone she would much rather forget, but memories of him still haunted her. She could still remember the way he looked at her, a mixture of pride and longing. The image of Adam in her mind was so different than the one she had come to see in her time away from the White Fang, he had been like a brother to her. When her parents died he was the one she sought out, and he would listen, and always find the right words to calm her down. She was still shocked that he had turned out to be such a monster.

More memories, lost in dark corners of her thoughts were being brought out to light, her pride in being a member of the White Fang, her hope in a better world. So many things she now realized were nothing but childish misgivings. There was no true evil in the world, she knew that now. Humans were wrong in the way they treated the Faunus, but the Faunus were just as wrong in their treatment of Humans. There was no right and no wrong, something she learned from Weiss, only action. Even the Grimm were not evil. They were driven by instinct, like all animals. It just happened that their instincts did not benefit others. What must happen in order for the world to change is that people must act, they must seek out change and allow others to follow. The secret is to act on a belief you deem worthy, and as Blake has found out, she does not possess those beliefs. She has ideas, but she is not a leader, she is not Ruby Rose.

She found the boats as the sun began to set behind the trees. The boat itself was solid, seaworthy, however until she found oars she had no hope of reaching the other side of the water. Once darkness settled over the beach, she gave up her search and set up a camp at the edge of the forest. The sighting of the Grimm earlier that day had set her on edge and she was unable to fall asleep, so she sat, waited and watched for signs of movement in the trees. As she sat she began to hear the Grimm she had seen earlier begin their movement. The still night air carried their their howling right to Blakes ears. Whatever the Grimm were doing, they were getting ready to act. She curled into a ball and tried to ignore the cries of the Grimm, she must find Ruby soon.

* * *

><p>They were coming. Ruby could hear them moving out in the trees. The when the howling began all she could do was pray that their preparations were enough. Yang had done the best she could with the barricade, forming a circle of logs around all of them, with stakes pointed outwards. Sun had helped in making several dozen dust bombs with the dust Weiss created, although they wouldn't do much to dent their numbers. A fair number had been given to Jaune to help him if the Grimm began to overwhelm the rest. The team met for the last time in the middle of their camp,<p>

"Alright" Ruby began "I want you all to listen." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I want Yang facing the south, try not to let them get too close, but they will eventually so do your best to keep them behind the barricade. Don't use your semblance too much, it'll wear you out pretty fast and this will be a long night." Yang nodded and Ruby turned to Sun "How many clones can you make now?"

"Eight"

"Alright I need you facing west. Only use four clones. Like I said to Yang we are going to need to keep up our strength for tonight. Avoid stepping into combat yourself, use your clones as much as you can without getting yourself exhausted" Sun nodded, Ruby turned to Pyrrha "I need you on the east side. We've set up some metal in the ground for you to use with your magnetism and there are some loose bullet shells you can fire off at the Grimm. When you use your rifle, aim for the larger ones, if we can kill enough of them then the others might back off. Stay out of the fight as long as you can, and when you do get into the middle of things, do not throw your shield." Pyrrha nodded in affirmative. Ruby turned to Weiss and paused.

"What about me then, the north?" Weiss asked.

Ruby nodded "Yes" She looked around at the rest of the team, almost apologetically. "Me and you are going to take the northside. I'll be monitoring us all throughout the fight, and running to help anyone in need, but for the most part I'll take the north with Weiss." She nodded to each of the members in turn before she continued. "This is going to be a long night, focus on conserving energy, and don't forget yourself. At our center Jaune's going to be next to helpless, so do as much as you can to keep the Grimm from getting through. Lets go."

Everyone nodded to each other in a silent agreement, they would survive this night. Once the rest of the team was out of earshot Ruby turned to Weiss.

"I want you to use as little dust as possible" Ruby said, Weiss looked back at her almost offended.

"Why?"

"I can sense your aura becoming unstable. You're giving too much energy to the dust and not enough to yourself. If you overuse it in the fight then there won't be any turning back. Especially since we don't know what your limits are yet."

"Ruby, I'm strong enough, you don't have to worry about me, I can handle myself."

"I know you're strong, and I know how well you can control yourself, but I've also seen how emotional you get in a fight. I don't want you to make a mistake, Weiss. I can't lose you."

Weiss didn't reply immediately, but looked into the trees instead. After a minute of silence she said "I promise you Ruby. I will not lose this fight. Not to the Grimm and not to myself. I will survive this, and so will will you. I may not be captain, but I am ordering you Ruby, do not die."

Ruby nodded and lent her gaze to the forest's edge. "I will not leave you Weiss. We will get through this together, that much I will promise." Red eyes began to dot the trees in front of them. They were coming.

There was a certain excitement when she faced her own death unblinking, an excitement that Yang craved. If there was one thing she loved it was overcoming insurmountable opposition. Now that she could see the Grimm moving out of the tree's, she was bursting with anticipation. She primed her gauntlets and screamed, a shriek, loud and primal. The force of her voice made the Grimm approaching her pause momentarily, before they matched her cry, and charged.

Sun could hear Yang's gunshots before he saw his enemy emerge from the trees. The Grimm stalked out of the forest, silent, and Sun faced them. He took a deep breath, readying himself before he began the fight. When he looked back to the Grimm, they had already begun to rush towards him, and meeting them halfway were four of his clones. He began to ready Ruyi and Jingu, while his clones kept them occupied. Once he was ready, he grabbed a couple of his bombs and launched them into the fray, raining fire upon the Grimm. He pounded his chest, gorilla like, knocking his terror aside and faced the eyes of death itself.

Pyrrha felt the bombs go off, but was too preoccupied to pay much attention to their source. She had already slain almost a quarter of the Grimm on her side with the metal traps in the ground. However only the young ones were slain, the older, more powerful Grimm had stayed back and allowed her to spring her trap before they began their charge. They moved too quickly to fire any of her bullets, she magnetized the shells Ruby had left her and leapt into the fray. Keeping the shells surrounding her, like a shield, she spun and danced through their ranks, with a beautiful lethality. Yet there was no time to rest, she could barely keep up with their movements as it was. She could not waste any movement or she would be killed instantly. Her path weaved her in and out of their attacks, blocking some, dodging the rest, constantly lashing out with jabs of her spear and kicks of her feet. She leapt up, blasting herself backwards with her rifle and settled back at the barricade. She was already starting to feel the lack of energy on her body, and yet she had slain so few. She narrowed her eyes, her green eyes staring defiantly into the countless red beads of light in the swarm of black. She would not let Jaune die, not without expending every last breath she had fighting for his safety. She leapt back into the night.

Ruby could not help but feel nervous as Weiss came in and out of battle. Being this close, Ruby could feel Weiss' soul wavering, if the fight went on for too long then Weiss would inevitably fall. Ruby herself was all over the battlefield, but could not help but continue to look back at Weiss. She was truly perfection on the battlefield.

Having such natural speed and skill, only heightened by her intake of dust, Weiss was a terror. Her movements gave the enemy almost no time to react, and she hit with such power and accuracy that every strike would give her opponent some sort of injury. Her Myrtennaster, now composed of dust, would move like a fluid in her hands, unblockable, hardening again mere moments before her strike landed. Her white hair a shimmering silver in the light of the moon, rippling with the movement of her body. Her glyphs were now instant, without giving losing any momentum she would cast her body away from damage. Ruby herself could move her body at inhuman speeds, but when Weiss activated a glyph she would for a split second almost seem like a blur. Only when Ruby used her semblance could she match that speed.

Ruby was forced to bring herself back to the battle, since Weiss had most everything under control she took a moment to check on the others. Pyrrha was playing a dangerous game, staying in the horde without Ruby and Weiss' speed, but there did not seem to be any other way, for her to fight, the Grimm moved too quickly. Ruby swept in and began slashing at their legs, attempting to slow them down, but it was no use. while she may have injured a few, they did not seem to mind the injuries, rather they turned their focus on Ruby. At least Ruby being there allowed Pyrrha a chance to rest before launching herself back into battle.

Ruby could not linger for long, as Sun began to be overwhelmed across the camp. Ruby came across as quickly as she could, but they Grimm had already begun to leap over the barricade. Ruby focused her aura into the blade of her scythe and activated her semblance. She was in and out of the battle, shredding whichever Grimm she came across. Focusing her aura and using her semblance left her weak, but she had slain almost a dozen of the Grimm. She took a moment to rest before checking up on Sun.

Sun himself was faring decently well, he had slain all of the younger beowolves with his clones on the first charge and was now focusing his aura into a single clone, while using his remaining aura to dodge attacks and leaving his clone to fight for him. Although it put him at more risk it allowed him to cripple the Grimm before they had the chance to strike him, making it easy to avoid their attacks. Ruby left him and went to check up on Yang.

Yang was a monster in the battle, an inferno of gunfire against the sea of black. Unlike the others, Yang made no attempt to dodge the attacks, but rather gratefully took the damage and returned it twofold. Even though Ruby had asked her not to overuse her semblance she couldn't help but fight the way she always did. Headlong and reckless. Although she would like to help, there was no way to get into that fight without taking serious damage, from both Yang and the Grimm.

The battle was fast, Ruby's team seemed to be holding their own but they were slowly being pushed back to the barricade. The sheer numbers of the Grimm were too much to handle. Suddenly there was a scream, Ruby could not identify where it had come from but she knew that it belonged to Pyrrha, as she turned around she saw why. A Grimm had managed to make it's way to the center of their camp, where Jaune sat. Jaune was looking into it's eyes, shaking, holding one of the bombs that Sun had made. He was frozen, his eyes glassy in panic, Ruby began to move, but before she could reach Jaune the Grimm suddenly fell forwards. Jaune fainted but Ruby saw just what had slain the Grimm so close to attacking Him. Pyrrha's shield was stuck out of the back of it's head, yet before anyone had time to react the Grimm closed in around Pyrrha. Without her shield she was helpless to block their constant battering. She was lost in a black sea, and yet once again before Ruby could react there was a blinding flash of light. Pyrrha screamed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Heroes; Chapter 7**

Pyrrha's voice rang out, anger, frustration and hopelessness all amalgamated into one, metallic screech. Rising above the roar of the Grimm, every entity on the battlefield paused, and turned to look at what was happening. The Grimm were closing in around Pyrrha, defenseless, holding her spear as one final act of defiance towards death. The bronze in her hands, shining with misplaced enthusiasm, even Ruby could not get there in time to be any help. Then Weiss came.

As soon as Weiss heard the scream she knew what was happening. Pyrrha had tried to save Jaune, and as a result put herself at the mercy of the Grimm, she had known this was going to happen all along. This was far too dangerous a situation to have to protect something as helpless as Jaune, someone was going to have to risk themselves for his sake. Never the less, Weiss would not allow any deaths tonight, not while she still had the power to end this battle.

Disregarding Ruby's advice, Weiss began to focus her energy into her dust aura, feeding as much power as she could into the dust. The Grimm around her were paper to her, she decimated them in an instant. Ice sprang from the ground, shredding every single beowolf that had dared approach her. The rest fled immediately, but Weiss had already turned away. She did not have Ruby's speed, not even with the strength she had now could she move fast enough to reach Pyrrha in time. She focused off the energy she had gathered into her fingers and pointed her hand at the Grimm surrounding Pyrrha taking a moment to ensure the shot would not hit Pyrrha, she fired. The bullet was composed of pure aura, Weiss had taken the idea loosely off what Ruby had told her of her Aura Bullet technique. Since she had so much energy in her body, she didn't need a vessel to carry her aura as long as the distance wasn't too great, her aura could remain a solid mass of energy and punch through anything in her way. Unfortunately the technique had some drawbacks, the force of the bullet leaving her body blasted her backwards at near the same speed, and left her far too weak to steady herself during the recoil. There were also several, more significant repercussions, she would be sure to talk to Ruby later about those.

Pyrrha could not see herself surviving. She had risked everything to save Jaune, but her own life was now forfeit. She cursed herself for being so weak, even Sun had handled the Grimm better than she had been able to, and because of her shortcomings, she would soon be dead, and Jaune left without a protector. She fell to her knees and closed her eyes. She did not want to face her death, she made one last silent prayer and waited for the swipe that would end her.

She remembered the light, her eyes were closed, but she could feel it on every surface of her body. It burned through her, the heat of it froze her body. It was like being stuck by lightning, if there was anything she could have compared it too. Pure energy saturated every part of her body, her heart started to beat wildly and her eyes flickered open. The moment her eyelids cracked apart, light flooded into her soul. Life returned to her body, and she began to stand once more. Then it passed, and her body felt so incredibly weak, she stumbled forwards then fell, the last thing she saw was Weiss flying backwards into the trees. She smiled.

Ruby could see everything from where she stood, helpless. Pyrrha had fallen, the Grimm had surrounded her and were closing in, and then they were gone. In a flash of light fifty Grimm had been erased, like they had never existed. Ruby knew exactly what Weiss had done, and she could not help but disapprove. Yet the Grimm were retreating, and they had won. Ruby took off immediately, stopping with Sun for a moment to get him to look after Pyrrha the activating her semblance and rushing towards Weiss' helpless body. If Weiss hit the tree's without any way to control the impact, she would be far too injured to make the journey across to Mistral. However in order to catch up Ruby knew she would have to use _it_. She had no other choice.

Ruby focused her energy into her heart. Using her aura she began to force her heart to beat faster and faster, she infused her blood with aura, giving inhuman strength to her muscles. In milliseconds she closed the gap between her and Weiss, grabbing hold of her partner and digging her feet into the ground to try and slow their blinding speed. The two of them were still traveling inhumanly fast when they hit the tree's but Ruby had at least managed to position herself and Weiss in a way that would let them take as little damage as possible. Still, they crashed through the tree's in the opposite of grace, a tangled mess of limbs cascading through a collage of forestation. The two of them finally came to a rest by striking a tree, resulting in a solid thud, and a low moan from Weiss. Ruby would have laughed at Weiss' casual reaction, had she not needed to calm her heart down before it burst.

When she used aura to strengthen her body, she could move at uncontrollable speeds, but it also meant if she left it active too long she could cause severe internal damage to her heart and muscles. She could use it momentarily but would need almost a full days rest before she could move again, and unless she could stop her accelerated heartbeat, she would not cease to pump oxygen into her bloodstream causing her veins to burst and most likely her heart to stop entirely. It was an incredibly risky technique and pushed her body to the very edge of it's capabilities, but she would not have allowed Weiss to get hurt. More than the delay in their adventure, Ruby could not bear to see Weiss injured and broken. Once she managed to slow her heart rate she allowed herself to look into Weiss' eyes. To her surprise, Weiss was looking up at her, her brows furrowed and blood spotting her forehead.

"You're bleeding on me" Weiss grumbled

"Oh" Ruby bubbled, splattering Weiss' face with more of her blood. Weiss' frown made her smile. "Glad to see how much you appreciate my efforts." Ruby said, wiping the blood from her lips.

"Please. It's not like I would have died or anything" Weiss said, her words trailing off into a whisper. "I didn't need you too" Weiss' eyes closed, the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. "But thanks. You dolt" Weiss began to snore softly. Ruby caressed her head before passing out herself. The two of them had used such explosive power, their bodies would need rest to recover. Ruby just hopped she didn't bleed all over Weiss' clothes before someone found them. Weiss would kill her.

* * *

><p>Ruby woke, but it took her a long while before she opened her eyes. She felt the wind on her skin, the smell of flowers and mildew filling her with pleasure. It would have been perfect if it hadn't been for the metallic aftertaste of blood on her tongue, or the pounding in her head; she needed a drink. Still, she hesitated to move, she was so tired, tired of being chased by Grimm, tired of losing people close to her, tired of being helpless to do anything but watch as her friends risked their lives for each other. Even with her speed she still couldn't catch up on a year being isolated from them. They had grown separate from her, and more than anything she wished to admire them from a distance. If anything, this last battle just proved how poor a leader she truly was. No matter how often they told her she was a born leader, that she was the most skilled of them all, she knew. She knew she was useless to them, but if they forced their trust upon her the least she could do is smile and be grateful, and try not to fail.<p>

Once she finally opened her eyes, she forced her body to sit up, struggling even to move her head enough to take a look around. From the looks of things, Sun had found Weiss and Ruby and covered them up where they lay. He hadn't wanted to move the two women for risk of causing more damage, so he had put a blanket carefully over the two of them. Ruby couldn't help but grin, even though the circumstances were a tad outlandish, she and Weiss did end up in bed together. Once Weiss found out she was going to slap Ruby so hard she'll wake up a week later, Ruby was excited. Ruby took a moment to stretch out her muscles before even attempting to get up.

Once Ruby finally managed to get up, the first thing she did was look over Weiss. She was worried about the rest of the team but in this moment, her full attention was devoted to her partner. Ruby had asked Weiss specifically to not use too much dust aura during the battle, especially in a situation where Ruby wasn't close enough to monitor her soul. Now that Ruby had the time to carefully examine Weiss she could see just how much damage that one split second of her dust had caused. The ridges on her spine had come out, they seemed to have broken off during their cascade through the forest. Now all that remained were jagged points sticking out of her back. Spikes had come out of other parts on her body, both old and new. The points on her joints had crystallized again, as well as a couple fresh areas. there was a couple of spikes at the hinge of her jaw, as well as a ring that jutted out from the base of her neck, like a collar. Ruby could see now why Sun had been so cautious when he found them. Weiss looked more like a porcupine than she did a woman.

Ruby knelt down beside her friend and wept, allowing the tears to fall freely from her eyes, her emotions pouring out of her uncontrollably. The only thing she loved in this world was lying in front of her, unconscious and broken. She had promised to protect her, all those meditation sessions in the woods had been to avoid this situation. A situation in which Ruby could do nothing but wait; wait and watch as Weiss' porcelain features slowly were given life. She took Weiss hand in her own, her right hand, the hand that fired the bullet to save Pyrrha. Her hand was cold, freezing, like ice. Solid and unmelting. Ruby tried pressing it between her own palms but it made no difference, it only made her hands and heart grow colder. She took the hand and pressed it against her lips, slowly and carefully, like grasping a work of art. She left a red imprint of her lips on the back of her hand, the blood in her mouth was still fresh, and she smiled. The blood made Weiss look alive again, like a human being again, instead of… something else. Then Ruby noticed her fingers.

Weiss index and middle fingers had slowly begun to change. From flesh and bone to dust, the tips of the fingers now took the appearance of crystal. The fingers themselves were hard as stone, but still bent and moved as a normal finger would. Ruby took a moment to meditate and observe Weiss aura, to check for any immediate danger. As soon as Ruby left her body she could sense abnormalities in Weiss aura flow, there was an unusually large amount of dust energy focused in her fingers, seemingly as a result f the shot Weiss fired, as well as a distinct imbalance between the two energies. Weiss own aura was being overtaken by the dust, but not because of lack of will. There seemed to be four across Weiss' spine that had completely stopped channelling her aura and one just at the top of her skull. Ruby wished she could remember what Weiss had told her about chakra points, but she at least was sure that these blocked points were those points. Weiss was losing herself, and the only one who could help now was Yang. Ruby got up and immediately activated her semblance, in her current state she was risking her life but she would risk anything to save Weiss.

* * *

><p>Yang was worried about her sister. Ever since Sun got back and detailed Ruby and Weiss' conditions, Yang had been debating whether or not she should go and check on them. Pyrrha had woken up since then, but has yet to say a word. She was thankful to Weiss for saving her life, but also terrified at the display of power. Yang had some idea of what Pyrrha felt, but wasn't very preoccupied with the spartan. If anything Pyrrha was just unable to accept her lack of power, she didn't suffer much of any physical harm and Yang could care less about people who had no confidence in themselves. Right now what worried her was what Ruby had done to her body to force herself to move as fast as she did, and whether or not Weiss was going to be able to manage the amount of dust in her system after using a technique like that. She had just decided to make her way over to the two women when Ruby appeared, bloody and breathless in the middle of the camp.<p>

"YANG. YAAANG!" Ruby cried loosing her frantic cries across the clearing. Yang made her way over to her sister to her sister, scrambling across the clearing.

"Ruby! What's wrong? what's happening? Where's Weiss?" Yang had so many questions to ask but in her heart she knew. Weiss was dying out in the forest and Ruby didn't know what to do.

"Forest. Weiss. Dust." Ruby had to pause between each word to retch. "Aura blocked. Can't help. Yang. PLEASE" She collapsed into Yangs arms, spattering gore across Yang's chest. All Yang could do was nod.

"Show me. I'll take care of it. Leave it to me" Yang tilted Ruby's head up and grinned "After all, what are big sisters for?" Yang swept Ruby of her feet and looked down into her silver eyes. Like moonlight, reflective and brilliant those eyes have seen enough death, Yang decided. "Which way?" Yang asked.

"North. North-east" Ruby choked. She lifted a feeble finger and pointed. Yang nodded and set off. as fast as she could. She was no where near Ruby's speed, but even so she made it to Weiss in minutes. Yang let her sister down at Weiss' side but had next to no idea what was wrong with the ex-heiress. From the looks of it she was slowly being consumed by the dust in her body, but from what Yang could sense Weiss' aura was still strong in her body, and the dust was not any stronger. There must be some sort of blockage that's stopping Weiss' aura from moving.

"Ruby, you know what's wrong with her right? I need to know what's happening."

Ruby was kneeling beside Weiss, her hands clutched tightly around the her friend's. "Her aura isn't flowing properly. I think you said that the scholars in the east had opened your chakra points for you, can you do that for Weiss?" Ruby began to weep "I don't want to lose anyone. Not anymore, not after Blake and Ozpin and Emerald and now we almost lost Pyrrha, I don't care how but I want Weiss to live." Ruby looked up into Yang's eyes "You can do that right?"

Yang smiled and gave her sister a thumbs up. She wasn't feeling very confident but she could at least fake it, for Ruby's sake. "Of course I can save her. It'll hurt, but I can do it." Yang circled around Weiss, looking for the best way to start her treatment. She would need access to the back but Weiss was covered in crystal spikes. "We need to flip her over alright? Can we break off the shards?"

Ruby nodded "We can, but we can only do a couple. If we start breaking them all off now she would bleed out. We can probably do five or so without a problem"

Yang paused to think. There were so many spikes she would have to remove any that would interfere with the process. She pointed to a couple of spikes on Weiss' chest and a few more on the back of her neck. Ruby nodded and quickly snapped them off, then Yang flipeed the unconscious girl over.

"What are going to do?" Ruby asked. Yang knelt beside her sister and raped her arm around her shoulders.

"I'm going to save her." Yang replied with a smile. Then she got to work.

The first thing Yang did was rip Weiss' top off, causing Ruby to squeak and look away. Yang raised an eyebrow at her sister's reaction but didn't have to to pose any questions. Once the top had been removed, Yang slid her hands across Weiss' back, looking for any debris in her system. What she had been told by the elders on the Isles was, the only reason for chi to be blocked was an obstruction in the natural flow of the body. If Yang could find the point where there was something she could remove then it would be simple enough to remove it. The only issue was being able to find a blockage, so far she'd found three but she sould tell there were more.

"Ruby." Yang began "Can you point out where you sensed the aura being stopped?" Ruby pointed to the four spots on the back where she knew the aura was being halted she then motioned up towards Weiss' head.

"There's another point right above her skull that isn't passing aura too." Ruby was visibly worried about that point in particular. "When I was learning aura from Ravn, he said that that was the most important spot."

Yang nodded and closed her eyes. She focused her attention towards Weiss head. "From what the Dragons taught me, there are seven gates in the body that pass aura. The one at the top of the skull is the gate that passes the spiritual aura, and in effect controls the amount of aura in the body. If that gate closes Weiss won't be able to manifest an aura."

"But if she can't manifest an aura then the dust will take over, right? We need to open that gate first!"

"No." Yang responded flatly. "If we open the last gate first her body would be full of aura and no way to circulate it through the body. We need to open the other gates first or else Weiss will die before she had the chance to turn into dust." Yang opened her eyes again, Ruby was silently crying beside her, hunched over like she was sick. "Don't worry Ruby. We have a time limit but we can do it. We can absolutely do it." Yang smiled at her sister. "There's no way were gonna lose another teammate, right?"

Ruby nodded weakly "Can I do anything to help?" Yang shook her head.

"No. I need to be very careful with this. If I accidentally close one of the gates she will die." Ruby made a choking sound, but nodded and moved back, giving Yang some space.

Yang looked back at her sister and gave her one last smile for reassurance before turning her full attention to the white haired woman lying before her. Yang drew her aura out, focusing it into her palms, giving off a soft yellow light. In order to open a gate, she had to coerce her own aura through the gate, like threading a needle, then slowly grow the width of her aura until the gate is fully opened. Unfortunately, getting her aura through the gate was incredibly difficult. Yang never had the greatest aura control, the opposite of her sister, but she didn't trust Ruby to do this. Ruby tends to rush things and may collapse one of Weiss' gates by enlarging too quickly. The guilt would probably kill her, and if not that then it was likely she would end her own life after killing a friend. No, it had to be Yang, she gritted her teeth and poured all her attention into finding Weiss' gates. This was going to be close.

* * *

><p>Ruby watched as Yang became motionless. It was such a contrast to see her immobile, Yang would always be moving, even in class or in the library she would tap her feet or fiddle with her hair. Now the only thing that moved were her hands, feeling their way slowly across Weiss' back. With a lack of anything better to do, Ruby began to meditate. At least then she could see how far along Yang was, as well as how unstable Weiss was getting. Ruby focused herself on Weiss aura, she could see the flow now, circulating within the unconscious girl. As Ruby watched she could see the aura growing stale within the system, instead of its usual ice white it was becoming a grey, like polluted snow. However, Ruby could also sense Yang's aura in Weiss' system, glowing bright and yellow. Yang was sending her aura out and into Weiss, she seemed to have found one of the gates and was feeding aura through it expelling it into Weiss with her right hand and returning it into her body with the left. As Ruby watched she slowly began to understand, she was widening the gate, slowly but surely, and Weiss aura began to filter through. After several minutes Yang stopped and moved up and began on the next gate, Ruby sat and watched Weiss aura, just in case anything unexpected happened.<p>

After a half hour solid of work Yang had widened all four of the gates. Ruby was still watching Weiss aura while Yang took a break before attempting to open the fifth gate, she had noticed something earlier but was waiting to be certain before letting Yang know. As Weiss' aura slowly returned to it's pure white glow, Ruby became aware that the dust aura inside Weiss was taking control of the gates Yang had opened, Weiss' didn't have enough aura left in her body to keep the dust under control anymore. Ruby didn't have time end her meditation, nor did she want to, she forced her lips to move while outside of her body, which she found to be incredibly difficult.

"Yang." Ruby forced out of her throat "Running… Out of…. Time" The words came out in a strangled hiss, a twisted version of her natural speech. It made Ruby cringe. "Dust… Taking… Over…. Hurry" That was all Ruby could manage, although from Yang's nod, she knew she had been understood. Ruby turned her attention back to Weiss. Yang began to start her work on the last gate, but her technique seemed to have changed, it seemed that there no way to thread the aura through the gate and back into herself. Yang had to feed a continuous stream of aua through the gate while not recycling her aura back through her body. Ruby could sense that this method was taking it's toll on Yang, and consequently it was taking far longer than the other gates, but Ruby could not afford to pull her attention from Weiss for even a moment. The dust was acting up, becoming more invasive of Weiss' body. If Yang took much longer Weiss would die, and Ruby would not allow that to happen. While there was still life in her body she would not, could not lose another team member. Especially not Weiss.

Ruby returned to her body and took a deep breath. What she was going to do could very well kill her if Yang took too much time, but she could not let Weiss die without even trying. She shuffled forwards stiffly, taking care not to disturb Yang in the process and placed her hands above Weiss' heart. Using the technique Yang had just done, she manifested her aura into her palms, then she began to push the aura into Weiss. Truth be told, Ruby had no idea whether or not this would work, but if Weiss couldn't generate the aura herself, them the least Ruby could do would be to give Weiss the aura to counteract the dust. Ruby fed her aura through Weiss' system, taking care not to let too much flow in at once. Ruby could herself growing weak as she let more and more of her life flow into Weiss, she was drawing as much aura as she could while staying conscious, but Weiss' was still unresponsive. Ruby's aura was circulating in Weiss, but the dust was still taking control of the system, pushing Ruby's aura out of it's way. If Ruby wanted to save Weiss she would have to go further, she would have to let her consciousness manifest itself within the aura she had given to Weiss, and fight the dust herself.

Ruby took her palms off Weiss' chest. Yang was growing weaker, but the treatment seemed far from over. Ruby kept a tether to the aura within Weiss in her right hand, and pressed her left onto Yangs back. She fed the last of her aura into her sister, giving her enough energy to keep going for several more minutes, then let her consciousness slip down the tether into Weiss' body. The last thing she could feel was the soft falling of her own body as it collapsed, and a fading cry from Yang, who forced herself to continue her work.

Flashing images took over Ruby's mind as she slipped further into Weiss. Memories, she could see Weiss as a child, Weiss watching the other girls play, Weiss sitting alone in her room. She could feel the tears on her cheeks but knew the wetness had long since dried, only a reminder of sadness long passed. She could hear voices now, Weiss screaming, a mans voice thundering back. The man must be her father. Ruby struggled against the onslaught of memories, fighting her way through twenty years of misery before she found what she was looking for, the memories of Weiss' chrysalis.

The pain was what Weiss remembered most clearly, the sharp agony of hosting a conscious entity inside of her body. The constant, physical and mental stress that was placed upon her body and soul. Ruby felt it as Weiss had, agonizingly vivid and traumatically harsh, but Ruby knew she could not give in. She must be strong, as a leader she must be able to stand on the same ground as her teammates, if Weiss could survive this, then so could she. She forced her way through the pain, the rejection, the sadness, familiarizing herself with the feeling of the dust as she did so. Ruby tore herself away from Weiss' memories and began her mission. She had to mold the dust to her will, to control it in Weiss' stead.

Had there been one thing she had learned while traveling was that if there was one sure fire way to defeat your opponent it would be to understand them completely. Their motivations, the desires, and more so than anything else, their strengths. Ruby had gone through Weiss memories for that reason, she needed to know what the dust had done in Weiss, as well as how Weiss herself managed to control it. There was a soul within the dust, something that allowed it to generate aura, meaning if Ruby could gain control of the soul, she could gain control of the aura. However that was no easy task, the soul would be in the center of the dust, like a heart, a cold crystal heart. Ruby shuddered at the thought of something like that existing within her, but she could not allow herself any distractions. Ruby fought her way through the dust, which acted like quicksand. It drew her in, and slowed her. If Ruby could not force herself to move she would be consumed in an instant, her aura pushing through, forcing it's way to the heart. It was a battle unlike any Ruby had ever known, yet more terrifying than any she'd experienced. The dust had already absorbed her aura, and was using her own fears against her. It was a mental onslaught the likes of which she'd never even come close to experiencing, it made her feel worthless, insignificant. It made her feel so worthless that even the thought of succeeding felt like more of a myth. Yet Ruby fought onwards, she could not stop now, even if she was going to fail, even if there was no hope, she must try. Weiss meant much more to her than her life, and she would risk everything to save her.

When Ruby got to the heart, she had no time to think, if she thought she would begin to doubt and doubt would be the death of them both. She dove into the soul of the dust, forcing herself into a mix of her deepest fears and her worst memories. She was reminded of the day she had failed to finish the White Fang, the feeling of watching her bullet pierced through Ozpin, she watched once again as Blake turned her back on her team and walked away. She was reminded of all her shortcomings, all her mistakes, all the pain she'd caused Weiss and Yang. Nevertheless she could not allow that to stop her. She struggled onwards, wrestling with the dust for control over their host. She filled herself with thoughts of her time at Beacon, team RWBY, being made captain, sleepless nights spent with Weiss in the library. Slowly she began to work her way through the shroud of darkness that surrounded her, and as she did, the light in her life began to return. Weiss was slowly coming back to her, Yang must have finished opening the gate, and Weiss' aura was now flowing back into her body. Ruby smiled, her strength fading. She was running out of energy now, having spent so much trying to fight off the dust. Had Yang not finished when she did Ruby would have failed, and Weiss would have been consumed before the final gate had been opened.

Ruby floated now, too exhausted to even try to move, to send herself back into her body. She was wasting away, she knew that if she did nothing she would die, her body may still have a beating heart but her mind would no longer exist. She could feel her mind fading now, but she was content. She had saved Weiss, and that was all that mattered. She felt like she was floating down a river now, being pushed along, accelerating towards some unknown destination, but it did not matter anymore. She had accepted her death, she would have her light extinguished, her final resting place within the body of the most significant person in her life. She was content with that, if anything she would die with a smile on her face, knowing she had the chance to know Weiss as personally as she had. Her mind faded, like a wet towel descending across her thoughts, suffocating and black. There was one last push, and then darkness.

* * *

><p>Weiss woke up to sobbing. She could taste blood on her lips, but it wasn't hers. Her whole body was in pain, except for her right hand, which she could feel nothing at all. She wanted to comfort Yang, to tell her everything would be ok, but she could not find the energy to open her mouth. She knew Ruby had fought the dust for her, keeping her alive long enough to wake up. She hoped she had managed to return the favor, but nothing was guaranteed. It was risky business allowing aura into another person, and by the feeling, Ruby had gone a step beyond that. She closed her eyes and prayed, Ruby had risked her life to save her, Weiss just hoped she'd be able to repay that debt. Weiss fell asleep to to sound of Yang's cries and managed just a few simple words before losing consciousness again.<p>

"I believe" She said. The sobbing stopped and Weiss was gone.


End file.
